THE  LIFE  OF 
DAVID  DUDLEY  FIELD 


DAVID     DUDLK 


IT,  W.*'?  the  boa**"."  or 
of  iuar'ble.  Bat  how  n 
"bail  hav.-j.  it  t.o  way,  th< 
>ea".(-(l.  honk,  left 'it  u 
•  f.i'l  ;i  t'l^  irthofi'.aiirie 
e  r.  1  o  p.p  res  %  i  u  1 1 , 1  e  f  t  i  t 


XK 

CHARLES    :; 


THE   LIFE 


OF 


DAVID    DUDLEY   FIELD 


BY 

HENRY  M.  FIELD 


It  was  the  boast  of  Augustus  that  he  found  Rome  of  brick  and  left  it 
of  marble.  But  how  much  nobler  shall  be  the  sovereign's  boast,  when  he 
shall  have  it  to  say,  that  he  found  law  dear  and  left  it  cheap ;  found  it  a 
sealed  book,  left  it  a  living  letter ;  found  it  the  patrimony  of  the  rich, 
left  it  the  inheritance  of  the  poor ;  found  it  the  two-edged  sword  of  craft 
and  oppression,  left  it  the  staff  of  honesty  and  the  shield  of  innocence. 

—  LORD  BROUGHAM. 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


COPYRIGHT,  1898 
BY  HENRY  M.  FIELD 


TO  STEPHEN   J.   FIELD 

JUSTICE    OF    THE    SUPREME    COURT    OF    THE 
UNITED    STATES. 

We  are  all  that  are  left !  One  by  one,  father,  mother, 
brothers,  sisters,  have  passed  on  till  we  are  standing 
alone  !  When,  last  of  all,  our  eldest  brother  left  us, 
it  would  have  fallen  to  you  to  write  the  story  of  his 
busy  life,  but  that  you  were  so  engrossed  with  your 
duties  on  the  bench  as  to  forbid  any  other  labor.* 
Hence  the  task  has  fallen  to  me,  who  can  only  write  as 
a  layman.  But  if  the  picture  be  wanting  in  some  pro 
fessional  details,  it  will  at  least  be  drawn  by  a  loving 
hand.  And  yet  it  is  not  from  mere  personal  regard  that 
we  cherish  the  memory  of  our  beloved  dead,  but  that  he 
was  a  great  figure  in  his  generation.  We  who  were 
nearest  to  him  felt  the  inspiration  most,  and  now  that 
he  is  gone,  we  recognize  more  than  ever  what  we  owe 
to  him,  as  next  to  what  we  owe  to  those  who  gave  us 
being,  and  it  is  our  highest  ambition  to  be  not  unworthy 
of  such  a  brother,  and  of  such  a  father  and  mother. 


*The  preparation  of  this  volume  was  begun  soon  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  Field,  and  has  occupied  all  the  time  that  the  writer 
could  give  to  it  for  three  years.  It  is  a  singular  coincidence  that 
as  he  closes  his  work  upon  it,  his  brother  retires  from  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  after  a  service  of  thirty- 
four  years  and  six  months— a  longer  time  than  that  of  any 
other  man  who  ever  sat  upon  the  bench  since  the  foundation  of 
the  Government,  not  excepting  the  great  Chief  Justice  Marshall. 


305389 


PEEFACE 

"  For  at  least  a  third  of  a  century,"  said  the  late  Mr. 
Austin  Abbott,  "David  Dudley  Field  was  the  most 
commanding  figure  at  the  American  bar."  This  alone 
would  justify,  if  it  did  not  demand,  some  record  of  his 
long  and  splendid  career,  while  the  traditions  of  his  great 
arguments  still  linger  in  the  memories  of  the  survivors 
of  his  generation.  But  he  was  not  merely  "a  figure  at 
the  bar,"  however  "commanding"  ;  he  was  a  reformer 
and  reconstructor  of  the  law  itself ;  in  which  the  work 
that  he  did  cannot  be  appreciated  without  some  knowl 
edge  of  the  unsatisfactory  state  of  the  law  when  he 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

In  the  colonial  period  of  American  history,  our  law 
was  the  common  law  of  England,  that  dates  back  to 
the  time  of  Alfred  the  Great,  and  was  overlaid  with  the 
accumulations  of  a  thousand  years.  The  Acts  of  Par 
liament  were  scattered  through  hundreds  of  volumes. 
There  were  whole  libraries  of  decisions  of  the  courts — 
decisions  that  were  often  so  contradictory  as  to  create 
hopeless  confusion.  And  even  more  confusing  than  the 
law  itself,  was  the  administration  of  the  law,  as  there 
were  two  Forms  of  Procedure :  in  Law  and  in  Equity ; 


PREFACE. 

whereby  what  was  decided  in  one  might  be  reversed  in 
the  other.  Was  there  any  necessity  for  this  roundabout 
way  to  secure  simple  justice?  Was  it  not  possible  to 
reduce  somewhat  the  enormous  bulk  of  the  English 
law  ;  to  gather  up  the  mighty  fragments  that  were 
scattered  all  along  the  centuries,  and  frame  them  into 
fixed  codes?  Such  were  the  questions  that  a  young 
lawyer  asked  himself  more  than  fifty  years  ago.  He 
believed  that,  even  where  chaos  reigned,  it  was  within 
the  power  of  man  to  restore  order  :  to  cut  a  passage 
through  the  jungle,  and  "cast  up  an  highway"  that 
should  lead  straight  to  the  Temple  of  Justice.  But  the 
very  suggestion  was  so  presumptuous  as  to  seem  to 
be  almost  sacrilege.  It  was  a  want  of  respect  to  the 
traditions  of  the  most  conservative  of  professions.  The 
Reform  and  the  Reformer  were  attacked  with  argu 
ment  and  ridicule  :  by  lawyers  and  judges  ;  in  courts 
and  legislatures.  But  he  was  in  that  stage  of  early 
manhood  when  one  is  inspired  by  high  ideals.  The 
very  idea  of  justice  was  sacred  to  him.  God  was  the 
Great  Lawgiver,  and  human  justice  should  be  framed 
a^s  far  as  possible  on  the  foundation  of  eternal  justice. 
That  was  the  only  thing  that  could  hold  the  world 
together.  If,  as  Mr.  Webster  tells  us,  "Justice  is  the 
great  interest  of  man  upon  earth,"  there  can  be  no 
greater  service  to  humanity  than  to  establish  justice  by 
law.  The  union  of  Justice  and  Power  is  the  only  solid 
foundation  for  human  society.  Inspired  by  such  a  con- 

viil 


PREFACE. 

viction,  the  Reform  of  the  Law  was  to  its  projector  a 
holy  crusade.  Brought  up  in  the  old  Puritan  faith  that 
the  law  of  God  was  not  only  for  the  wise  but  for  the 
simple,  he  would  have  the  law  of  man  brought  down  to 
the  intelligence  of  all  who  were  under  it.  No  for 
eign  phrases  should  obscure  its  meaning.  Every  word 
should  be  in  the  dear  old  English  tongue  wherein  we 
were  born.  If  all  men  could  not  understand  the  intri 
cacies  of  the  law,  they  could  at  least  understand  justice, 
as  they  felt  the  stings  and  wrongs  of  injustice.  He 
would  have  the  pressure  of  the  law  like  the  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere,  resting  alike  upon  all,  yet  not  as  a 
burden,  but  as  the  very  breath  of  life,  the  inspiration  of 
freedom  as  well  as  of  justice,  that  makes  men  strong 
and  nations  great.  Thus  the  law  should  be  uof  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people." 

Such  was  the  dream  of  the  young  Reformer.  But 
how  far  did  he  achieve  what  he  undertook  ?  A  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England,  the  late  Lord  Cairns,  said  that 
he  "had  done  more  for  the  reform  of  the  law  than  any 
other  man  living ; "  and  expressed  his  amazement  that 
he  could  undertake  the  enormous  labor  it  involved, 
while  at  the  same  time  carrying  on  a  large  professional 
practice.  This  was  indeed  the  wonder  of  all  who  knew 
him.  The  work  of  the  student  and  the  codifier  alone 
was  more  than  enough  to  absorb  the  undivided  labor  of 
the  longest  life.  But  the  Reformer  was  not  a  recluse, 
shut  up  within  the  walls  of  libraries,  which  no  sound 


PREFACE. 

rom  the  outer  world  could  invade.  He  was  a  soldier 
vho  was  always  in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  as  must  be 
3ne  who  was  a  "commanding  figure  at  the  bar."  Nor 
was  this  all.  No  man  was  more  deeply  interested  in 
the  political  questions  of  the  day.  A  Democrat  by 
\  principle,  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  break  with  his  party 
on  the  point  of  the  extension  of  slavery,  which  he  fought 
in  conventions,  when  he  stood  almost  alone — a  move 
ment  that  took  form  in  the  old  Free  Soil  party,  which 
was  the  nucleus  of  the  Republican  party,  that  at  last 
won  its  victory  in  the  election  of  Lincoln,  and  kept  pos 
session  of  the  government  for  a  whole  generation  after 
the  war. 

But  above  all  professional  or  political  ambitions  was 
the  Reform  which  he  undertook  in  his  early  manhood, 
and  which  filled  up  the  measure  of  his  days  till  he 
breathed  his  last  in  his  ninetieth  year,  a  purpose  thus 
briefly  recorded  on  his  tomb  : 


HE  DEVOTED   HIS  LIFE  TO   THE  REFORM   OF  THE  LAW: 

TO  CODIFY  THE  COMMON  LAW  ; 

TO  SIMPLIFY  LEGAL  PROCEDURE; 

TO  SUBSTITUTE  ARBITRATION  FOR  WAR  ; 

TO  BRING  JUSTICE  WITHIN  THE  REACH  OF  ALL  MEN. 


Did  any  man,  living  or  dead,  ever  aim  higher  than 
this  ?  Is  it  possible  to  conceive  of  anything  more  noble 
than  "to  bring  justice  within  the  reach  of  all  men"? 
How  far  he  succeeded  is  another  question,  which  the 


PREFACE. 

writer,  after  telling  the  story  in  a  simple  narrative, 
leaves  to  the  reader,  asking  only  that  his  opinion,  what 
ever  it  may  be,  should  be  formed  entirely  apart  from 
personal  considerations.  The  character  here  portrayed 
was  a  very  positive  one,  and  roused  strong  antagonisms. 
The  Reformer — like  other  Reformers — was  a  man  of 
war  from  his  youth,  and  gave,  as  well  as  received, 
tremendous  blows.  But  all  this  is  over  now.  He  has 
gone  to  the  grave,  and  in  that  grave  should  be  buried 
all  the  passions  of  the  hour.  But  though  he  is  gone, 
his  work  remains,  an  inheritance  to  future  generations, 
and  may  safely  be  left  to  the  verdict  of  posterity.  His 
name  has  passed  into  history,  and  by  history  let  it  be 
judged. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

FROM  THE  STOCK  OF  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS.         ...       1 

CHAPTER  II. 
BIRTH  AND  BOYHOOD.     REMOVAL  TO  STOCKBRIDGE.        .        .     12 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  NEW  HOME.     GOING  TO  COLLEGE.          .        .        .        .26 

CHAPTER  IV. 

STUDIES  LAW  AND  ENTERS  PRACTICE  IN  NEW  YORK.     MAR 
RIAGE  :   DEATH  OF  HIS  WIFE  :   A  YEAR  ABROAD.          .    34 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  REFORM  OF  THE  LAW.     THE  CODES  OF  CIVIL  AND  CRIM 
INAL  PROCEDURE.  .......        42 

CHAPTER  VI. 
A  DOMESTIC  EPISODE.     THE  GOLDEN  WEDDING.    .        .        .57 

CHAPTER  VII. 
CODIFICATION  OF  THE  COMMON  LAW 68 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

ADOPTION  OF  THE  CODES  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD.          .        .    84 

xiii 


CONTENTS. 

Oil  APT  KR  IX. 
"THE  COMMANDING  FIGURE  AT  THE  BAH."   .        .        .        .97 

CHAPTER  X. 

POSITION  IN  POLITICS.  A  DEMOCRAT,  BUT  OPPOSED  TO  THE 
EXTENSION  OF  SLAVERY.  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.  RISE 
OF  THE  FREE  SOIL  PARTY.  ......  107 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  NOMINATION  OF  LINCOLN.  A  CHAPTER  OF  UNWRITTEN 
HISTORY.  ..........  121 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  LAST  EFFORT  FOR  PEACE 141 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  WAR  THAT  HAD  TO  COME 162 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
RE-ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  LAW.  .        .        .  182 

CHAPTER  XV. 
WORK  AND  PLAY.     How  HE  "WARMED  BOTH  HANDS  AT  THE 

FIRE    OF    LIFE." 208 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
AN  INTERNATIONAL  CODE.     ARBITRATION  INSTEAD  OF  WAR.    219 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
THE  LONG  VACATION  :  GOING  ROUND  THE  WORLD.        .        .  243 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

A  NEW  CHAPTER  IN  POLITICS.  A  DISPUTED  PRESIDENTIAL 
ELECTION.  Two  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS.  .  .  .  262 

xiv 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

JOY  AND  SORROW.     THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  SON.     VISIT  TO  HIS 

DAUGHTER  IN  JAMAICA.     .....  .  277 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  AFTERNOON  OF  LIFE.     THE  QUEEN'S  JUBILEE.     DEATH 
OF  SIR  ANTHONY  MUSGRAVE 395 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  PEACE  CONGRESS  IN  LONDON.  arm 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

VISIT  FROM  HIS  DAUGHTER  AND    HER  SONS.      THE  DEATH  OF  HIS 

BROTHER  CYRUS 322 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE    LAST    SUMMER    AMONG    THE    HlLLS 329 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
HOMEWARD  BOUND.     THE  GOING  DOWN  OF  THE  SUN.  .  337 


PORTRAITS 

PAGE 

DAVID    DUDLEY   FIELD          .         .         ,         .  Frontispiece 

THE   FATHER   AND   MOTHER       .         .         .  Facing    64 

THE   FIGURE   AT   THE   BAR          .         .         .  "        106 

JUSTICE  STEPHEN  J.   FIELD        ...  -        196 

JUSTICE  DAVID  J.    BREWER        ...  "306 

CYRUS  W.  FIELD  •«        328 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM  THE  STOCK  OF  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

The  history  of  New  England  dates  from  Plymouth 
Rock.  But  the  Mayflower  was  from  the  beginning  a 
sort  of  forlorn  hope.  Of  the  hundred  pilgrims  that  it 
had  on  board,  the  greater  part  were  so  worn  out  with  the 
three  months'  voyage,  and  the  winter's  cold,  that  when 
the  spring  came  one  half  were  in  their  graves ;  so  that 
the  brave  little  ship  is  but  a  picturesque  figurehead  in 
the  great  drama  of  American  history,  and  has  its  place 
of  honor  chiefly  as  the  pioneer  of  larger  emigrations 
that  had  in  them  more  of  the  seeds  of  empire.  Ten 
years  later  came  John  Winthrop  with  an  expedition  a 
thousand  strong,  and  founded  the  Colony  of  Massachu 
setts  Bay.  About  the  same  time  another  pilgrim  ship 
had  among  its  passengers  a  grandson  of  John  Field, 
the  astronomer,  who,  a  hundred  years  before  Isaac 
Newton,  introduced  into  England  the  Copernican 
Astronomy.  That  he  was  a  Puritan  of  the  Puritans 
may  be  inferred  from  his  very  name,  the  good  old 
Scriptural  name  of  Zachariah.  But  Puritan  as  he  was, 
he  was  none  the  less  a  man  of  affairs,  of  the  energy 


2        FROM  THE   STOCK   OF  THE   PILGKIM   FATHERS. 

and  enterprise  that  are  needed  in  the  making  of  a  new 
country. 

Some  historical  critics,  to  whom  nothing  is  sacred, 
would  take  from  us  the  heroism  of  our  Pilgrim  fathers, 
by  telling  us  that  they  were  not  seeking  ' '  freedom  to 
worship  God "  so  much  as  to  better  their  worldly  for 
tunes.  But  the  two  things  were  not  inconsistent  in  the 
Puritan  any  more  than  in  the  "canny  Scot,"  whose 
psalm-singing  and  long  prayers  did  not  prevent  his 
being  thrifty  at  a  bargain,  or  a  tremendous  fighter  on  the 
field  of  battle.  The  men  who  landed  011  the  rock-bound 
coast  of  New  England,  had  first  of  all  to  fight  for  exist 
ence  ;  to  find  homes  for  their  wives  and  children.  But 
wherever  they  went  in  the  wilderness,  they  carried  the 
ark  of  God  with  them,  and 

"The  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 
To  the  anthem  of  the  free. " 

Full  of  the  life  of  the  New  World,  Zachariah  Field 
remained  but  a  few  years  near  Boston,  when  he  pushed 
into  the  interior  over  a  hundred  miles  to  the  valley  of 
the  Connecticut.  The  old  records  of  Hartford  show 
that  he  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors,  who  bought 
the  land  from  the  Indians,  part  of  which  was  held 
as  the  property  of  the  town,  and  part  was  assigned  to 
individuals  in  proportion  to  the  amount  contributed  to 
the  purchase.  As  he  was  still  in  the  vigor  of  man 
hood  he  was  one  of  the  forty-two  men  furnished  by 


FROM   THE    STOCK    OF   THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS.         3 

Hartford  to  take  part  in  the  Pequot  war.  He  was 
afterwards  one  of  a  company  that  bought  from  the 
Indians  nine  miles  square  of  land  lying  north  of 
Mount  Holyoke,  and  moved  up  the  valley  of  the  Con 
necticut,  living  first  in  Northampton,  and  then  in  Hat- 
field,  where  he  died  in  1666. 

In  venturing  thus  far  towards  the  frontier  he  exposed 
his  family  to  great  dangers  from  the  savages  that  were 
lurking  near  the  settlements.  A  few  years  later  King 
Philip's  war  stirred  up  the  Indians  from  one  end  of 
Massachusetts  to  the  other.  The  massacre  of  Bloody 
Brook  (a  part  of  Deerfield),  in  which  a  whole  company 
of  soldiers  were  killed,  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through 
the  new  settlements,  that  were  soon  deserted,  the  peo 
ple  fleeing  to  Northampton  for  safety.  But  a  few 
months  later  the  whites  turned  the  tide  in  the  battle  of 
Turner's  Falls,  which  gave  them  rest  for  some  years, 
till  the  Indians  were  stirred  up  again  by  the  French,  and 
attacking  Deerfield  at  night,  set  fire  to  the  town,  and 
massacred  part  of  the  inhabitants,  and  made  prisoners 
of  the  rest.  In  all  these  terrible  scenes  few  families 
suffered  more  than  the  Fields,  of  whom  some  were 
killed  and  others,  including  women,  were  carried  off  as 
captives  to  Canada. 

But  in  spite  of  all  dangers  the  brave  settlers  held 
the  fort,  or  rather  held  the  frontier,  and  became  the 
ancestors  of  families  who  have  kept  the  name  in  honor 
in  Northwestern  Massachusetts  for  six  generations. 


FROM   THE   STOCK   OF   THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS. 

Among  their  descendants  are  not  only  ministers  and 
lawyers  and  judges,  but  men  of  business,  whose  vast 
interests  require  as  much  financial  ability  as  to  be  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States ;  so  that  we 
may  be  pardoned  if  we  claim  it  as  another  proof  that 
blood  will  tell,  that  Mr.  Marshall  Field,  of  Chicago,  is 
a  direct  descendant  of  the  old  Puritan,  Zachariah  Field. 
But,  though  this  tribe  of  Israel  was  of  a  fighting 
race,  the  bravest  of  men  do  not  care  to  be  wakened  too 
often  by  the  war-whoop  of  the  savage :  and  a  grandson 
of  Zachariah,  "  Ebenezer,"  signifying  "Thus  far  hath 
the  Lord  helped  us,"  thought  it  more  for  his  peace  of 
mind  to  go  back  to  the  land  from  which  his  forefather 
came  out,  and  returned  to  Connecticut.  Nor  did  he 
stop  at  Hartford,  but  went  on  to  the  shore  of  Long 
Island  Sound  and  took  up  his  home  in  Guilford,  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  town,  now  called  Madison,  where 
he  married  Mary  Dudley,  (a  descendant  of  two  govern 
ors  of  the  Colony  of  New  Haven)  through  whom  the 
name  of  Dudley  came  into  the  family.  Here  he  and 
those  that  came  after  him  abode  for  more  than  a  hun 
dred  years.  In  the  old  burying  ground  where 

"  The  rude  forefathers  of  the  hamlet  sleep." 

may  still  be  seen  side  by  side  three  low  headstones 
which  mark  the  heads  of  three  generations:  for  after 
Ebenezer  came  his  eldest  son,  David,  who  settled  in 
the  north  part  of  Madison,  probably  as  early  as  1720, 


FROM   THE   STOCK   OF   THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS.         5 

in  a  district  which,  as  it  was  yet  uncleared,  was  called 
' '  The  Woods, "  where  he  soon  after  erected  a  frame 
house  of  two  stories,  that  was  literally  founded  on  a 
rock,  and  is  standing  to  this  day. 

After  David  came  Timothy,  who  lived  on  the  old 
homestead,  which  he  inherited  from  his  father.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  vigor  and  resolution,  which  led  his 
fellow-townsmen  to  look  to  him  as  a  leader  in  troublous 
times.  When  he  was  in  the  prime  of  manhood — a  little 
over  thirty  years  of  age — the  War  of  the  Revolution 
broke  out,  and  he  entered  the  army.  In  1776  he  joined 
the  seventh  regiment  raised  in  Connecticut  for  the 
defence  of  the  State,  and  served  under  Washington, 
when  the  great  leader,  rallying  his  forces  after  the  dis 
astrous  defeat  on  Long  Island,  took  a  position  of  defence 
on  the  upper  part  of  New  York  Island,  between  Fort 
Washington  and  the  East  River,  to  watch  the  British 
troops  which  then  held  the  city,  and  took  part  in  the 
battle  of  White  Plains.  He  was  afterward  in  command 
of  a  coast  guard  organized  for  protection  against  expe 
ditions  that  might  attack  towns  along  the  shore  of  Long 
Island  Sound,  in  which  he  once  saved  Guilford  from 
a  raid  of  Tories  who  landed  June  17th,  1781,  and  had 
begun  to  burn  the  town,  when,  mustering  the  farmers 
with  their  muskets,  he  attacked  them  with  such  spirit 
that  he  drove  them  to  their  boats,  leaving  their  dead 
and  wounded  behind  them. 

Captain  Field  lived  many  years  after  the  war,  and 


6        FROM   THE   STOCK   OF   THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS. 

was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  old  "Continentals,"  who 
united  the  character  of  the  farmer  and  the  soldier.  The 
older  inhabitants  of  the  town  still  remember  his  striking 
figure.  One  who  says  "he  can  see  him  now,"  describes 
him  as  "a  large,  broad-breasted,  well-built  man." 
Even  while  engaged  in  peaceful  pursuits  he  kept  up  the 
military  style  of  dress  of  other  days.  "He  always  wore 
a  cocked  hat,  short  breeches,  long  stockings,  and  bright, 
silver  shoe-buckles ;  and  I  never  saw  him,  either  on  the 
farm  or  abroad,  that  he  was  not  dressed  in  this  manner." 

This  revolutionary  veteran  had  eight  children,  of 
whom  six  were  daughters.  The  sons  were  both  minis 
ters.  The  elder,  who  bore  his  father's  name  of  Timothy, 
was  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  Western  New  York, 
and  was  settled  in  Canandaigua,  where  are  still  many 
of  his  kindred.  He  afterward  returned  to  New  Eng 
land,  and  became  a  pastor  in  Westminster,  Vermont, 
where  he  died  in  1844,  leaving  a  name  that  is  held  by 
the  old  residents  in  loving  remembrance.  The  other 
son  was  the  Rev.  David  Dudley  Field,  the  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  biography. 

It  would  be  a  very  imperfect  narrative  that  did  not 
pause  before  the  figure  of  the  venerable  patriarch  who 
forms  the  link  between  past  generations  and  the  present, 
and  whom  all  who  survive  hold  in  tenderest  love  and 
reverence.  He  was  descended,  as  we  have  seen,  from  a 
race  of  brave  and  God-fearing  men,  who  in  times  of 
danger  defended  the  frontier  settlements  against  the 


FROM   THE   STOCK   OF   THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS.         7 

savages,  and  fought  for  their  country's  independence. 
But  it  was  a  small  world  into  which  he  came.  Yet 
not  so  small  as  it  seemed.  Those  days  had  their 
excitements  as  well  as  ours.  It  was  just  after  the  Rev 
olutionary  war.  Indeed  he  was  born  before  the  contest 
was  decided.  The  last  gun  was  fired  while  he  was  in 
his  cradle.  Such  great  events  left  their  impression  far 
behind  them.  The  agitation  remained  long  after  the 
conflict  was  over,  and  the  mind  of  the  country  was  still 
rocked  and  tossed,  like  the  ocean  after  a  storm.  Every 
hamlet  in  New  England  was  full  of  tales  of  the  great 
struggle.  The  actors  in  those  scenes  were  still  upon  the 
stage.  There  were  men  who  had  fought  behind  the 
entrenchments  on  Bunker  Hill;  who  had  followed 
Washington  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  long  conflict ; 
who  had  camped  with  him  at  Valley  Forge;  who  had 
witnessed  the  surrender  at  Yorktown.  From  a  child 
he  was  familiar  with  these  heroic  traditions,  for  at  his 
father's  fireside  he  heard  stories  of  the  camp  and  the 
field.  NOT  were  such  things  altogether  of  the  past,  for 
now  and  then,  like  distant  thunder,  came  the  sound  of 
wars  and  revolutions  beyond  the  sea. 

With  all  this,  there  was  an  intellectual  life  in  New 
England  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  and  the  begin 
ning  of  this,  perhaps  as  great  as  at  the  present  day.  In 
every  town  there  were  men  of  education  and  learning. 
Yale  College  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in  Connecti 
cut,  as  Harvard  did  in  Massachusetts.  It  raised  up  a 


8        FROM   THE   STOCK   OF  THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS. 

body  of  educated  men, — ministers,  physicians,  lawyers, 
and  judges — who  were  scattered  through  the  State, 
filling  positions  of  influence,  and  forming  an  educated 
class.  The  town  of  Guilford  had  as  its  minister  Rev. 
John  Elliott,  a  man  of  high  classical  attainments,  whose 
discourses — a  few  of  which  are  still  preserved — show 
him  to  have  possessed  uncommon  ability  and  eloquence. 

Like  his  older  brother,  this  son  of  Captain  Field  chose 
the  profession  of  the  ministry,  for  which  indeed  he  had 
such  a  natural  taste,  as  might  be  interpreted  as  a  Divine 
call.  A  schoolmate  used  afterwards  to  relate  how, 
when  boys,  they  would  go  off  into  the  woods,  where 
4 '  David  "  would  mount  a  rock,  and  ' '  preach  "  at  him 
as  long  as  his  youthful  listener  would  hear.  As  he 
walked  on  the  sea-shore,  he  shouted  to  the  waves,  which 
seemed  like  answering  voices,  as  they  came  rolling  up 
the  beach.  The  late  Dr.  John  Todd,  who  spent  a  part 
of  his  early  life  in  Madison,  said :  ' '  In  my  boyhood  I 
used  to  hear  about  '  Mr.  Field,'  the  young  man  who  had 
gone  to  college.  I  walked  on  the  hard  sands  of  the 
beach  where  he  had  walked,  I  stood  on  the  same  fishing- 
rocks  on  which  he  had  stood,  and  I  listened  to  the  same 
surf -roar  of  the  sea  to  which  he  had  listened." 

Bent  on  an  education,  he  applied  to  his  minister,  who 
had  the  pleasure  of  a  scholar  in  reviewing  his  old  studies, 
and  fitted  him  for  college  along  with  two  of  his  class 
mates,  Erastus  Scranton  and  Jeremiah  Evarts,  the 
father  of  William  M.  Evarts,  the  late  Secretary  of 


FROM   THE    STOCK   OF   THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS.         9 

State.  They  entered  Yale  together  in  1798.  Field  and 
Evarts  were  room-mates  during  their  college  course, 
and  always  entertained  for  each  other  the  warmest 
affection.  The  class  of  1802  numbered  among  its  mem 
bers  others  whose  names  became  honorably  distinguished 
in  after  life — Isaac  C.  Bates,  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts  ;  Judge  Hubbard  of  Boston,  William  Maxwell  of 
Virginia,  Governors  Tomlinson  and  Pond  of  Connecti 
cut,  Junius  Smith,  who  has  been  called  the  father  of 
ocean  steam  navigation,  and  Pelatiah  Perit,  an  eminent 
merchant  of  New  York.  But  perhaps  the  best  that 
Yale  College  gave  to  its  students  then,  came  from  the 
personal  influence  of  president  Dwight,  a  man  of  such 
noble  presence,  combined  with  such  intellect  and  such 
eloquence,  as  gave  him  a  great  ascendancy  over  the 
minds  of  his  pupils,  who  looked  up  to  him  as  a  king  of 
men.  No  one  felt  his  influence  more  than  Field,  and 
the  impression  remained  to  the  end  of  his  life.  While 
in  college,  and  for  some  time  after,  the  intervals  of 
study  were  occupied  in  teaching  school,  by  which  he 
obtained  means  to  complete  his  education. 

Graduating  with  high  honors  in  1802,  he  had  next  to 
prepare  for  his  profession.  At  that  time  there  were  no 
theological  seminaries  in  the  country,  and  students  of 
divinity  pursued  a  course  of  study  with  some  eminent 
minister.  Among  these  was  Dr.  Charles  Backus  of 
Somers,  to  whom  the  young  graduate  went,  and  found 
something  better  than  theology  in  his  future  wife,  a 


10      FROM   THE   STOCK   OF   THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS. 

young  lady  who  bore  the  name  of  Dickinson,  the  daugh 
ter  of  Captain  Noah  Dickinson,  who  had  served  as  an 
officer  under  General  Putnam  in  the  old  French  war, 
and  afterwards  was  in  the  army  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  and  at  the  return  of  peace  settled  down 
to  the  quiet  life  of  a  farmer.  One  who  knew  him  only 
in  the  last  years  of  his  life  describes  him  as  a  man  of 
commanding  appearance,  nearly,  if  not  quite,  six  feet 
high,  with  an  intellectual  head  and  face,  that  made 
him  a  fine  type  of  ' '  the  gentleman  of  the  Old  School. " 
The  daughter  of  this  old  soldier  was  long  remem 
bered  by  those  who  knew  her  in  her  youth  as  having 
great  personal  beauty,  a  light  graceful  figure,  and  a 
very  animated  countenance.  It  was  the  fashion  of 
those  times  to  give  to  daughters  the  names  of  the 
Christian  graces,  which  of  course  they  were  expected  to 
exemplify,  such  as  Faith,  Hope,  Patience,  and  Charity. 
One  of  her  sisters  was  named  Love,  and  upon  this 
daughter  of  the  Puritans  was  bestowed  the  meek  name 
of  Submit.  In  after  years  her  children  sometimes  play 
fully  told  her  that  the  appellation  was  not  the  most 
appropriate,  since  she  had  a  due  share  (but  not  a  whit 
too  much)  of  true  womanly  spirit.  As  she  was  born  on 
the  first  day  of  October,  1782,  she  had  but  just  reached 
the  age  of  twenty-one  when  she  was  married  in  1803. 
And  truly,  if  a  good  wife  is  from  the  Lord,  no  one  ever 
had  more  reason  to  recognize  a  special  Providence  in  the 
gift  than  this  young  minister.  From  that  day  she  was 


FROM   THE    STOCK    OF   THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS.      11 

for  nearly  fifty-eight  years  the  light  and  joy  of  his 
home.  Whoever  in  all  those  years  shared  her  hospi 
tality,  will  not  forget  what  brightness  and  sunshine  she 
shed  around  her.  Whatever  of  success  or  prosperity 
has  attended  the  family,  has  been  due  in  a  great  measure 
to  her  unselfish  spirit,  which  made  every  sacrifice  for  the 
education  of  her  children — to  her  perpetual  buoyancy  of 
temper,  to  her  womanly  patience,  courage,  and  hope. 

These  are  tender  memories  that  stand  out  in  touch 
ing  relief  against  the  dark  background  of  those  early 
times  of  struggle  and  of  war,  while  the  figures  of 
grandsires  who  perilled  their  lives  for  their  country  is 
not  only  a  matter  of  pride  for  the  past,  but  an  inspira 
tion  for  the  future.  Nobody  felt  this  more  than  the 
Law- Reformer,  whose  life  was  one  long  battle.  In  the 
days  when  he  had  to  stand  almost  alone  against  a  host 
of  opponents,  he  was  always  able  to  strengthen  his 
courage  by  remembering  that  he  had  the  blood  of  these 
old  soldiers  in  his  veins. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BIRTH  AND   BOYHOOD.      REMOVAL   TO  STOCKBRIDGE. 

It  is  hard  to  transport  ourselves  back  nearly  a  hun 
dred  years,  so  as  to  enter  into  the  life  in  New  England 
at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  It  was  very  primitive 
as  compared  with  the  life  of  to-day.  There  were  no 
railroads  and  no  steamboats.  Locomotion  was  slow 
and  difficult.  If  a  country  minister  wished  to  visit  his 
brother  in  the  next  town  to  discusss  the  hard  points 
of  Calvinism,  he  could  not  be  whirled  to  the  spot  in 
an  electric  car,  but  had  to  jog  over  the  hills  in  his 
"one-hoss  shay."  But  after  all  the  slower  gait  fur 
nished  the  more  time  to  think  and  "  ruminate  "  by  the 
way,  and  many  a  minister  has  preached  a  sermon  to 
his  horse  before  he  preached  it  to  his  people.  Perhaps 
there  was  as  much  general  intelligence,  as  much  true 
manliness  and  womanliness,  and  as  much  real  happi 
ness,  in  those  simple  days  of  our  fathers  as  in  these 
eager  and  rushing  days  of  ours.  Happiness  belongs  to 
no  place  or  time.  Love  brings  heaven  down  to  earth, 
and  makes  all  things  new,  and  no  painter  or  poet  could 


BIKTH   AND   BOYHOOD.  13 

have  pictured  a  sweeter  idyll  than  that  of  the  home 
coming  of  the  young  minister  with  his  young  bride,  as 
they  rode  over  the  hills  that  autumn  day,  when  the 
woods  were  aflame  with  purple  and  gold,  and  down  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut  to  the  village  that  was  to  be 
their  home  for  many  years  to  come.  Every  step  of  the 
way  brought  him  nearer  to  the  home  of  his  childhood,  to 
the  place  where  he  was  born,  and  to  the  College  where 
he  was  educated.  What  a  joy  it  would  be  to  drive 
down  to  the  seaside,  where  he  used  to  walk  upon  the 
beach,  or  to  the  City  of  Elms,  to  meet  his  old  classmates 
on  Commencement  day,  when  they  would  exchange  their 
experiences,  their  hopes  and  fears,  as  they  ventured  out 
upon  the  scenes  of  active  life.  Apart  from  these  imag- 
ings  the  new  parish  might  not  have  seemed  quite  so 
inviting,  for  Haddam  is  a  rough  and  rocky  town,  its 
chief  source  of  wealth  being  its  quarries  of  granite. 
Nor  was  there  any  beauty  in  the  long,  straggling  vil 
lage.  The  old  meeting  house  was  a  huge  barn-like 
structure,  which  answered  not  only  for  a  place  of  wor 
ship,  but  for  town  meetings,  and  now  and  then  for  the 
court,  if  some  poor  wretch  was  to  be  tried  for  murder, 
when  the  eagerness  "to  be  in  at  the  death"  was  such 
that  no  other  roof  could  cover  the  multitude.  But  after 
all  nature  had  been  kindly  to  the  old  town,  which  was 
framed  in  between  the  rocky  hills  and  the  majestic  river 
that  wound  its  way  among  them  on  its  course  to  the  sea. 
The  parsonage  was  not  after  the  pattern  of  an  Eng- 


14  BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

lish  rectory,  with  its  Gothic  doors  and  windows  cov 
ered  with  vines,  nor  of  any  modern  architecture.  No 
Quaker  dwelling  could  be  plainer  than  the  two-story 
frame  house,  that  stood  so  close  upon  the  street  as  to 
leave  but  a  few  feet  for  a  bit  of  green  grass.  Nor  was 
the  salary  oppressive.  If  he  was  not,  like  the  preacher 
in  Goldsmith's  Deserted  Village,  ' '  passing  rich  on  forty 
pounds  a  year,"  his  stipend  amounted  to  but  little  more, 
though  nominally  it  was  more  than  twice  as  much — a 
hundred  pounds,  or  five  hundred  dollars  !  This  was 
riches  indeed  had  it  all  been  paid  in  money,  but  in  those 
days  there  was  very  little  money  in  the  country.  There 
was  no  question  between  gold  and  silver  as  legal  tender, 
for  it  was  not  often  that  the  people  saw  the  glitter  of 
either  coin,  and  those  who  could  not  pay  in  cash  paid 
"in  kind."  A  farmer  brought  a  load  of  wood,  and 
received  credit  for  so  much  toward  the  minister's  sal 
ary.*  I  have  heard  him  say  that  in  all  these  years  he 
never  had  at  one  time  so  much  as  a  hundred  dollars  ! 
But  what  cared  the  young  minister  and  his  wife  so  long 
as  they  had  health,  and  heart,  and  hope  ?  If  their 
dwelling  was  plain  without,  it  was  bright  within,  as 
the  young  mistress  filled  it  with  the  sunshine  of  her 
presence ;  and  never  was  it  so  warm  and  bright  as  on 


*  When  Jonathan  Edwards  was  settled  in  Stockbridge  in  1750,  the  town 
voted  him  a  salary  of  six  pounds,  thirteen  shillings  and  fourpence,  law 
ful  money,  and  a  hundred  sleigh-loads  of  fire-wood— of  which  twenty 
were  furnished  by  the  white  settlers  and  eighty  by  the  Indians  I 


BIRTH  AND   BOYHOOD.  15 

a  winter  day,  February  13th,  1805,  when  they  welcomed 
into  the  world  their  first-born  son,  to  whom  they  gave 
his  father's  name  of  David  Dudley  Field. 

Hardly  was  the  little  creature  out  of  his  cradle  before 
he  began  to  show  signs  of  a  will  of  his  own.  An  old 
dame  who  was  employed  in  the  family,  and  in  after 
years  used  to  boast  that  she  had  administered  to  him 
necessary  domestic  discipline,  gave  as  a  reason  for  it 
that  "he  was  a  most  determined  little  fellow."  She 
found  it  hard  to  break  his  will.  In  this  the  child  was 
father  of  the  man.  Many  found  the  same  difficulty  in 
the  later  stages  of  his  career. 

A  boy  so  full  of  life  could  not  but  be  fond  of  sports, 
though  under  a  little  restraint,  as  he  was  the  min 
ister's  son  !  But  outdoor  exercise  of  any  kind  exhil 
arated  him,  whether  it  was  skating  on  the  ice-bound 
river,  or  being  whirled  at  full  speed  over  the  crisp  and 
glittering  snow. 

Still  keener  was  the  enjoyment  to  sit  on  a  winter 
night  before  a  blazing  fire,  and  hear  old  men  tell  tales 
of  old  times !  Their  next-door  neighbor  had  been  a  sea 
faring  man.  On  a  winter  evening  he  and  his  boys  were 
commonly  occupied  in  knitting  nets  for  the  shad  fishery. 
Then  was  the  time  for  the  old  seaman's  yarns,  to  which 
young  David  would  listen  with  infinite  delight. 

As  soon  as  he  was  old  enough  he  had  been  sent  to 
school.  But  from  all  his  schooling  he  gathered  only 
the  rudiments  of  knowledge,  for  while  he  was  still  a 


16  BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

mere  boy,  his  father  took  him  in  hand,  to  teach  him 
something  better  than  learning  by  rote,  to  think  for 
himself,  as  he  would  study  out  his  sums  in  arithmetic. 
If  in  after  years  he  showed  a  remarkable  power  of  rea 
soning,  he  owed  it  largely  to  the  mental  discipline  that 
he  had  in  his  father's  study. 

Then  came  a  passion  for  reading.  But  where  to  find 
the  books  !  In  those  days  there  were  no  circulating 
libraries.  Indeed  there  was  not  a  library  of  any  kind 
in  the  town  except  his  father's,  and  that  was  composed 
chiefly  of  books  of  divinity  !  "Of  tales  and  romances 
there  were  none ;  of  the  English  classics  little ;  and  of 
poetry  just  three  books — Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  Young's 
Night  Thoughts,  and  Watts'  Psalms  and  Hymns  ! " 
The  Night  Thoughts  suggested  doleful  meditations,  and 
Watts'  Psalms  and  Hymns  were  meant  to  be  sung, 
and  as  he  was  not  a  singer,  he  would  not  presume  to 
devote  himself  to  them ;  but  the  sonorous  lines  of  Milton 
caught  his  ear.  He  committed  pages  of  them  to  mem 
ory,  and  was  constantly  repeating  them  to  himself  as 
he  was  wandering  about  among  the  rocks  and  hills. 

With  this  love  of  poetry  and  of  nature,  nothing 
so  captivated  him  as  the  broad  bosom  of  the  Con 
necticut,  divided  by  a  long  and  narrow  island,  which  he 
in  his  youthful  enthusiasm  thought  ' '  one  of  the  prettiest 
spots  in  the  world."  Of  all  things  in  nature  that  speak 
not  and  hear  not,  there  is  not  one  that  can  become 
so  real  a  companion  as  a  river.  Soft  and  still  may 


BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD.  17 

be  its  flow,  yet  in  its  gentle  murmurs  it  whispers  to 
the  heart,  if  it  does  not  speak  loudly,  while  it  lulls  the 
too  sensitive  nature.  It  is  not  a  dead  thing,  like  yon 
der  cliffs  of  granite,  that  change  not  with  the  pass 
ing  centuries.  It  is  alive,  and  the  very  image  and 
reflection  of  our  own  life,  as  it  is  ever  in  motion  and 
always  in  one  direction,  never  turning  back,  but  flow 
ing  on  and  on,  forever  and  forever  !  Those  who  in 
after  years  were  accustomed  to  see  the  great  advocate 
at  the  bar,  in  the  contests  of  professional  life,  could 
not  imagine  how  full  his  mind  was  of  poetry  and  of  the 
love  of  nature.  But  those  who  knew  him  intimately 
can  see  him  in  his  boyhood,  sitting  for  hours  at  the 
window  of  his  father's  house,  or  in  the  summer  time  on 
the  grassy  slope,  or  under  the  trees,  in  that  silent  com 
munion  with  nature,  which  to  him  was  one  of  the  most 
exquisite  delights  to  the  last  hour  of  his  life. 

And  now,  as  he  looks  at  the  river,  there  go  the  ships  ! 
Even  in  those  early  days  there  was  a  considerable 
inland  commerce  on  the  Connecticut  as  on  the  Hudson. 
Sloops  and  schooners  went  down  the  river,  bound  to 
New  York,  or  it  might  be  to  the  West  Indies,  and  now 
and  then  came  a  full-rigged  ship,  with  broad  wings 
outspread  to  fly  across  the  sea  !  All  this  excited  the 
boy's  imagination,  till  he  was  seized  with  a  passion  for 
the  life  that  thus  passed  before  him,  and  went  to  his 
father  and  begged  him  to  let  him  go  to  sea  ! — a  passion 
that  grew  stronger  when  there  was  a  prospect  of  some- 


18  BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

thing  more  exciting  than  a  seaman's  life,  however  full 
it  might  be  of  novelty  and  adventure,  as  all  along  the 
coast  was  heard  the  sound  of  war,  for  among  the  recol 
lections  of  his  boyhood,  he  recalled  distinctly  the  break 
ing  out  of  the  war  of  1812.  Once,  talking  of  the  old 
times,  he  said :  "I  remember  when  a  boy  seven  years 
of  age,  as  I  was  riding  with  father  over  the  hills  to 
Killingworth,  a  man  met  us  on  the  road,  and  told  us 
that  war  was  declared  with  England  !  My  father  was 
startled  by  the  news.  The  country  had  been  expecting 
it,  and  yet  it  caused  a  shock  when  it  came.  It  was  a 
strange  coincidence,  that  at  that  moment  there  came 
up  a  thunder  storm.  The  sky  grew  black,  the  light 
nings  flashed,  and  the  thunder  rolled  from  one  end  of 
the  heavens  to  the  other,  as  if  the  elements  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  storm  of  war  that  was  to  burst 
upon  the  country.  I  remember  two  privateers  going 
down  the  Connecticut  river ;  and  once  at  New  Haven 
I  saw  English  ships-of-war  sailing  up  the  Sound.  I 
remember  also  a  playmate  running  up  the  hill  behind 
the  village  to  tell  us  the  great  news  that  Bonaparte  had 
been  beaten  at  Waterloo." 

Life  in  a  country  village  in  those  days  was  not  very 
eventful.  There  was  not  even  the  sensation  of  evil,  as 
it  was  a  very  peaceable  community,  where  every  man 
dwelt  in  safety,  with  none  to  molest  or  make  him  afraid. 
The  farmers  did  not  lock  their  doors  at  night,  for  there 
was  nothing  to  tempt  a  thief  or  a  robber.  The  very 


BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD.  19 

infrequency  of  crime  made  it  more  startling  when  it 
came,  an  illustration  of  which  may  show  the  gravity 
and  the  solemnity  with  which  the  people  of  New  Eng 
land  administered  justice  as  under  the  authority,  not 
only  of  the  State,  but  of  God,  who  had  commanded 
that  they  should  not  bear  the  sword  in  vain. 

In  1815  a  man  by  the  name  of  Peter  Lung,  living 
in  Middletown,  of  violent  temper,  and  maddened  by 
intoxication,  murdered  his  wife.  He  was  arrested,  and 
taken  to  Haddam,  the  county  seat,  and  confined  in  jail. 
When  the  time  for  trial  came,  such  was  the  excitement 
of  the  people,  and  the  eagerness  to  witness  it,  that  the 
court  house  did  not  suffice,  and  the  trial  was  transferred 
to  the  meeting  house,  whose  wide  floor  and  deep  gal 
leries  held  a  crowd,  that  looked  on  the  scene  with  awe 
and  wonder.  The  venerable  Judge  Trumbull  presided, 
taking  his  seat  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  in  his  ruffled  shirt 
sleeves  and  bosom,  and  his  short- clothes.  The  trial  was 
conducted  with  due  deliberation,  but  the  case  was  .clear, 
and  could  have  but  one  issue. 

After  receiving  sentence  the  prisoner  was  taken  back 
to  his  place  of  confinement,  where  the  village  pastor  was 
constant  in  his  ministrations  till  the  day  of  his  execu 
tion,  which  was  to  be  accompanied  by  a  service  such 
as  we  know  not  if  it  could  be  found  anywhere  else  in 
Christendom,  though  it  once  existed  in  Scotland,  and 
is  described  by  Scott  in  The  Heart  of  Midlothian.  It 
was  that  a  sermon  should  be  preached  at  the  execution : 


20  BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

and  this  not  only  to  the  spectators  of  the  scene,  that 
they  might  profit  by  the  lesson  which  it  conveyed,  but 
in  presence  of  the  condemned,  who  was  brought  into 
the  church,  and  sat  in  the  aisle  in  front  of  the  pulpit, 
and  whom  the  preacher  addressed  in  person.  As  the 
prisoner  had  become  attached  to  his  spiritual  adviser, 
he  desired  him  to  be  with  him  on  his  last  day,  to 
strengthen  him  for  the  moment  that  he  was  to  suffer, 
and  to  preach  the  sermon  !  The  execution  took  place 
in  Middletown,  and  drew  an  immense  concourse  of 
people  from  all  the  surrounding  country.  Mr.  Field 
took  with  him  his  son,  but  ten  years  old,  whose  eyes 
were  ready  to  burst  when  the  soldiers  brought  in  the 
prisoner,  and  fifty  years  after  he  said :  "I  can  see 
them  now,  and  hear  the  clang  as  they  grounded  their 
arms !  "  The  sermon,  as  was  fitting  in  view  of  the  cause 
of  the  crime,  was  a  warning  against  drunkenness,  from 
Luke  xxi.  34:  "Take  heed  to  yourselves,  lest  at  any 
time  your  hearts  be  overcharged  with  surfeiting  and 
drunkenness,  and  cares  of  this  life,  and  so  that  day 
come  upon  you  unawares ; "  from  which  the  preacher 
denounced  that  which  is  the  cause  of  so  many  acts  of  vio 
lence  and  blood.  As  he  drew  near  the  close,  he  turned 
to  the  unhappy  man  before  him,  who  rose  and  stood  (as 
he  had  done  when  receiving  sentence  from  the  judge), 
to  hear  these  last  words  before  he  was  launched  into 
eternity.  The  preacher  then  addressed  him  as  follows : 
' '  PETER  LUNG  :  By  your  confessions,  intemperate 


BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD.  21 

drinking  has  been  the  cause  of  the  calamities  which 
have  come  upon  you.  This  inflamed  your  passions, 
naturally  violent  and  impetuous;  filled  your  tongue 
with  prof aneness  and  threatening,  and  your  hands  with 
frequent  acts  of  violence,  even  upon  her  who  was  the 
wife  of  your  covenant.  In  a  fit  of  intoxication  you 
inflicted  upon  her  wounds,  marks  of  which  she  carried 
to  the  grave.  What  you  have  done,  as  it  has  been 
judged  by  the  proper  tribunals,  subjects  you  to  an 
ignominious  execution.  From  this  there  is  no  escape. 
But  men  who  forfeit  their  lives  to  the  laws  of  their 
country,  may  upon  repentance  receive  a  pardon  from 
God.  During  your  long  confinement,  as  your  life  has 
drawn  nigh  unto  the  grave ;  as  you  have  been  counted 
with  them  that  go  down  into  the  pit ;  have  you  cried 
day  and  night  before  God  ?  .  .  Pray  God  to  search 
your  heart,  to  see  if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in  you, 
and  to  lead  you  in  the  way  everlasting.  Whatever  you 
do,  you  must  do  speedily :  for  this  day  thou  shalt  die. 
Before  yonder  sun  shall  set  in  the  west,  your  proba 
tionary  state  will  be  closed  forever.  If  in  any  doubt 
about  your  preparation,  you  may  yet  find  mercy.  He 
who  pardoned  the  penitent  thief  on  the  cross,  may 
pardon  you  in  the  place  of  execution.  Pray  God,  then, 
if  perhaps  your  sins  may  be  forgiven  you.  Cry  to  Him, 
God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner  !  and  continue  those 
cries  till  death  shall  remove  you  hence.  May  the 
Lord  Almighty  support  you  in  the  trying  scene  before 


22  BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

you,  and  through  infinite  grace  have  mercy  on  your 
soul  !  " 

When  this  solemn  service  was  over,  the  mourn 
ful  procession  took  up  its  line  of  march,  the  soldiers 
leading  the  way  to  the  place  of  execution.  Young 
David,  who  followed  in  the  throng,  r3membered  how 
the  wretched  man,  dressed  in  a  long  white  robe,  that 
was  to  be  his  winding-sheet,  stood  upon  the  scaffold, 
which  was  guarded  by  a  body  of  troopers,  who  closed 
up  around  it,  and  cut  the  fatal  cord  with  their  swords. 
When  this  last  act  was  over,  all  turned  away,  and  as 
the  people  from  the  country  round  rode  back  over  the 
hills,  they  talked  together  of  a  scene  the  like  of  which, 
at  least  in  the  feature  here  described,  has  perhaps  not 
since  been  witnessed  in  New  England. 

While  these  years  passed  on,  the  parsonage  was 
being  filled  with  a  little  group  of  children.  Seven  were 
born  in  Haddam,  of  whom  one  died  in  infancy,  and 
six  were  living,  with  ages  from  two  to  thirteen  years. 
There  were  so  many  little  mouths  to  be  fed,  little  bodies 
to  be  clothed,  and  the  older  ones  to  be  sent  to  school. 
How  this  problem  was  solved,  is  the  secret  of  the  mys 
terious  power  that  lies  in  a  woman's  heart  and  hand. 
With  a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars,  and  six  children, 
there  was  no  time  for  idleness.  In  those  days  there 
were  no  Irish  servants,  and  indeed  hardly  servants  of 
any  kind,  except  a  few  colored  people  kept  in  old  fami 
lies.  Almost  every  woman  in  the  country  did  her  own 


BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD.  23 

work  with  such  ''help"  as  she  could  now  and  then 
find  from  the  assistance  of  a  farmer's  daughter.  Yet 
such  tasks  did  not  daunt  this  gentle  mother  with  her 
delicate  and  slender  frame.  She  did  not  count  it  hard 
ship  or  self-denial,  for  the  passion  of  her  life  was 
devotion  to  her  husband  and  her  children,  and  she 
moved  about  the  house  with  a  light  step,  singing  as  she 
went.  All  day  long  was  the  parsonage  kept  alive  by 
her  busy  hands  and  feet.  But  now  she  was  to  be  left 
alone  for  five  months  together,  which  was  their  first, 
and — except  a  visit  to  Europe  thirty  years  later — their 
last  separation. 

This  was  an  episode  in  his  ministerial  life  that  at 
once  separated  and  linked  together  his  two  places  of 
settlement.  The  people  of  New  England  had  begun  to 
wake  up  to  the  idea  of  the  Great  West,  which  then 
included  Western  New  York,  a  large  part  of  which  was 
still  covered  by  the  primeval  forest.  He  read  about  the 
emigrants  from  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  going 
out  into  the  wilderness.  Why  should  he  not  go  and 
preach  to  them  ?  He  was  just  in  his  prime,  but  thirty- 
seven  years  old  !  Who  could  endure  hardship  better 
than  he  ?  Whereupon  he  resigned  his  quiet  parish  on 
the  river  side,  and  accepted  an  appointment  under  the 
old  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut,  to  the  new  settle 
ments  on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario  and  on 
the  banks  of  the  Oswego  River.  The  country  was  then 
a  wilderness,  through  which  he  rode  on  horseback, 


24  BIRTH   AND   BOYHOOD. 

preaching  in  log-houses  and  under  the  shade  of  trees. 
This  frontier  had  been  the  scene  of  constant  fighting 
during  the  then  recent  war,  and  as  he  rode  along  he 
visited  several  of  the  fields  of  battle.  Buffalo  had  been 
burnt  by  the  British,  and  was  still  but  a  small  strag 
gling  village,  in  which  there  was  not  a  single  church, 
and  he  preached  in  the  court  house  ! 

This  absence  continued  for  five  months,  during  which 
the  young  mother  was  left  alone  with  her  little  flock,  to 
wa.tch  over  them,  and  keep  them  safely  within  the  fold. 
In  after  years  she  often  told  us  of  the  anxieties  of  those 
days  :  how  at  night,  when  the  little  ones  were  in  their 
nests,  she  would  go  round  the  house  to  see  that  all  was 
quiet,  and  then  lie  down  and  sleep  beside  her  children, 
feeling  that  they  were  safe  under  the  eye  of  God. 

During  this  period  she  had  a  great  comfort  in  her 
oldest  boy,  who,  though  he  was  but  thirteen  years  of 
age,  at  once  took  in  the  situation,  and  felt  that  a  certain 
responsibility  rested  upon  him  to  be  in  the  place  of  the 
absent  father,  as  the  protector  of  his  young  mother,  and 
of  his  only  sister,  and  the  four  little  boys,  the  youngest 
of  whom  was  but  just  out  of  his  cradle.  This  feeling 
of  an  older  brother,  as  being  the  natural  guardian  of 
the  younger,  remained  through  life  :  a  care  that  was 
rewarded  in  after  years,  when  he  lived  to  see  the  young 
est  of  those  little  brothers,  and  a  son  of  that  sister, 
meet  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States. 


REMOVAL  TO   STOCKBRIDGE.  25 

But  at  last  the  father  was  coming  home  !  On  his 
return  he  passed  through  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  where 
the  old  minister,  Dr.  Stephen  West,  past  his  eightieth 
year,  was  no  longer  able  to  preach,  and  Mr.  Field  was 
asked  to  supply  the  pulpit  for  several  weeks,  and  soon 
after  was  called  to  be  the  pastor,  and  settled  the  follow 
ing  year,  August  25,  1819,  then  beginning  a  ministry 
that  was  to  continue  nearly  eighteen  years. 

The  removal  was  no  small  affair.  Teams  were  sent 
to  Connecticut  to  bring  the  furniture — a  week's  journey 
to  go  and  return.  There  were  beds  and  bureaus,  tables 
and  chairs,  and  most  weighty  of  all,  boxes  piled  with 
books,  for  the  minister  had  accumulated  a  large  library. 
Nearly  fifty  years  after,  the  subject  of  this  biography 
and  the  writer  of  it,  both  of  whom  lived  in  New  York, 
had  their  summer  homes  in  Stockbridge,  and  took  their 
exercise  on  horseback  together.  One  morning  as  they 
were  riding  over  the  hills,  they  passed  bv  a  farmer's 
door,  who  told  them  that  he  had  in  his  possession  one 
of  the  teamster's  waggons  that  had  done  service  in  this 
memorable  exodus,  and  they  rode  into  the  yard  to  see 
it.  There  it  was,  looking  like  an  old  army  waggon, 
that  had  been  through  the  wars.  It  required  but  little 
imagination  to  picture  it  piled  with  all  the  treasures 
of  the  household,  while  on  the  top,  riding  high  in  air, 
were  perched  half  a  dozen  children ;  and  thus  bearing 
"Ca3sar  and  his  fortunes,"  it  rumbled  over  the  moun 
tains  to  the  new  home  among  the  Berkshire  Hills. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  NEW  HOME.     GOING  TO  COLLEGE. 

The  removal  of  the  family  to  Stockbridge  was  an 
event  to  all  concerned,  and  a  turning-point  in  their  his 
tory.  It  is  with  men  as  with  trees,  that  the  best  of 
them  may  be  improved  by  transplanting.  True,  the 
Housatonic  was  not  as  large  as  the  Connecticut,  but  it 
has  a  beauty  all  its  own  as  it  winds  its  way  through 
the  Berkshire  Hills.  At  this  point  the  valley  widens, 
stretching  away  in  meadows,  that  rise  gently  into  hills 
covered  with  forests,  till  the  horizon  is  shut  in  by  an 
amphitheatre  of  mountains.  The  village  is  on  a  plateau 
near  the  river,  and  is  laid  out  in  one  long  street,  arched 
with  elms,  underneath  which  were  the  residences  of 
families  some  of  which  bore  the  names,  as  they  retained 
the  manners,  of  the  old  Colonial  aristocracy. 

The  town  had  a  history,  which,  if  not  more  notable 
than  that  of  many  other  New  England  towns,  gave  it 
a  local  distinction.  The  fertility  of  the  valley  had 
attracted  a  tribe  of  Indians,  who  gave  their  name  of 
Housatonic  to  the  river,  and  it  was  to  plant  a  mission 


THE   NEW   HOME.  27 

among  them  that  the  first  white  men  came  from  East 
ern  Massachusetts.  What  John  Eliot  had  been  a  hun 
dred  years  before,  John  Sergeant  was  now,  an  apostle  to 
the  Indians,  by  whom  he  was  so  beloved  that  when  he 
was  laid  to  rest,  they  wished  to  be  buried  beside  him 
that  they  might  rise  with  him  in  the  resurrection. 
After  him  appeared  the  stately  form  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  who  found  the  quiet  of  the  wilderness  a  fit 
seclusion  in  which  to  revolve  the  ever  vexed  questions  of 

"Fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute." 

Then  came  one  who  was  pastor  of  the  church  for  sixty 
years,  that  spanned  the  whole  period  from  the  time  of 
the  old  French  war  through  the  Revolution  and  the  sec 
ond  war  with  Great  Britain.  This  was  Stephen  West, 
who,  though  a  man  of  small  stature,  was  full  of  patri 
otic  fire,  as  he  showed  when  the  tidings  came  of  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  and  the  minute  men  were  mustered 
on  the  village  green,  and  he  addressed  them,  telling 
them  to  do  their  duty  to  God  and  their  country  !  He 
lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  was  always  a  notable  figure 
in  the  town  when  he  walked  abroad  arrayed  in  his  three- 
cornered  hat,  his  silver  knee  buckles,  and  his  gold- 
headed  cane,  and  all  stood  aside  and  uncovered  their 
heads  with  a  deference  that  is  too  much  forgotten  in 
these  democratic,  not  to  say  degenerate,  days. 

In  the   line  of  this  apostolic    succession  came  the 
new  minister  in  the  autumn  of  1819.     Among  the  spe- 


28  GOING  TO   COLLEGE. 

cial  attractions  for  the  young  student  was  an  excellent 
Academy  under  the  instruction  of  a  famous  teacher, 
Mr.  Jared  Curtis,  who  had  a  reputation  for  turning  out 
thorough  scholars.  And  what  was  even  more  impor 
tant  than  the  ' '  head-master, "  he  met  here  for  the  first 
time  three  young  men  of  similar  tastes,  with  whom  he 
formed  an  intimacy  that  ripened  into  the  closest  friend 
ship,  that  continued  to  the  end  of  their  lives.  These 
were  the  brothers  Mark  and  Albert  Hopkins,  the  first 
of  whom  afterwards  became  the  President  of  Williams 
College,  and  the  other  Professor  of  Astronomy ;  while 
the  third  was  John  Morgan,  who  became  a  Professor  at 
Oberlin,  Ohio,  where  his  name  is  held  in  honor,  as  are 
the  two  others  in  the  heart  of  every  man  who  has  been 
a  student  at  Williams  within  the  past  generation.  * 

From  the  Academy  the  next  step  was  to  the  College. 
Had  his  father  continued  to  reside  in  Connecticut,  the 
son  would  have  gone,  as  his  father  did,  to  Yale.  But 
Western  Massachusetts  had  a  College  of  its  own,  which 
bore  the  name  of  a  gallant  soldier,  Colonel  Ephraim 
Williams,  who  went  from  Stockbridge,  and  fell  in  the 
old  French  war.  And  so  to  Williams  he  went  with  the 
other  students  from  Stockbridge.  Those  were  among  the 


*  Mr.  Field  survived  them  all.  It  was  while  he  was  in  Europe,  in 
the  summer  of  1887,  that  President  Hopkins  died ;  but  on  his  return  he 
prepared,  at  the  request  of  the  Trustees  of  the  College,  a  fitting  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  his  life-long  friend.  It  was  delivered  at  the  following 
Commencement,  and  is  published  in  Volume  III  of  his  Miscellaneous 
Addresses. 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE.  29 

happiest  days  of  his  life.  He  loved  study,  and  the  harder 
the  subject  the  more  he  loved  it  for  the  very  fact  that 
it  taxed  his  intellectual  ability.  No  matter  what  the 
study  was,  Latin  or  Greek,  or  the  problems  of  geom 
etry,  he  attacked  them  all  with  a  fierce  determination. 
In  those  days  scientific  explorers  in  Europe  and  America 
were  beginning  to  make  their  discoveries,  and  his  eager 
mind  was  greatly  excited  by  the  mysteries  which  they 
revealed.  Long  years  after  he  said :  "I  remember,  as 
of  yesterday,  my  feeling  at  my  first  lesson  in  chemistry. 
The  world  had  changed.  Instead  of  a  cold,  inanimate 
nature,  I  saw  that  everything  was  alive.  The  trees 
seemed  nodding  to  me  as  I  passed ;  the  air  whispered  in 
my  ears ;  every  blade  of  grass,  every  green  leaf,  opened 
its  wonderful  structure.  The  ground  moved  beneath 
my  feet;  the  rain,  the  light,  and  the  clouds  brought 
messages ;  and  even  the  solid  rocks  stood  full  of  affini 
ties,  ready  to  dissolve  and  form  again  in  new  combi 
nations  of  their  elements."  But  what  fascinated  him 
more  than  all  was  the  starry  heavens,  even  though  it 
was  before  the  modest  Observatory  had  arisen,  with 
its  dome  and  its  telescope.  It  was  his  interest  in  this 
study,  together  with  his  personal  regard  for  Albert 
Hopkins,  which  led  him  in  after  years  to  give  $25,000 
to  endow  the  professorship  of  astronomy. 

How  he  ranked  as  a  scholar  compared  with  his  class 
mates,  I  cannot  speak  from  personal  knowledge,  as  I 
did  not  enter  College  for  many  years  after :  but  even 


30  WILLIAMS    COLLEGE. 

then  there  was  a  tradition  of  a  race  of  giants  that  had 
gone  before  us:  among  whom  stood  the  four  Stock- 
bridge  boys.  I  heard  a  great  deal  about  them  from  an 
"Old  Mortality,"  the  "Professor  of  Dust  and  Ashes," 
who  was  the  collector  and  purveyor  of  all  the  Col 
lege  gossip,  and  as  such  the  most  copious,  if  not  the 
most  credible,  chronicler  of  his  time.  He  used  to  say 
to  me,  perhaps  to  exalt  my  family  pride,  ' '  They  all  said 
that  Field  was  the  best  scholar  that  they  had  had  in  the 
College  in  ten  years  !  "  \ 

And  yet,  though  his  standing  was  so  high,  he  did 
not  graduate.  ' '  The  reason  why  I  cannot  tell. "  Some 
thing  had  given  offence  to  the  President,  Dr.  Griffin, 
who  was  somewhat  tenacious  of  his  dignity,  and  so  the 
young  man  left  the  College  a  year  before  the  end  of  his 
course,  without  waiting  for  the  valedictory,  that  his  class 
mates  said  was  sure  to  be  his.  But  whatever  the  petty 
irritation,  it  was  soon  after  removed,  and  from  that  time 
to  the  hour  of  his  death,  Williams  College  had  no  more 
loyal  son  than  he.  The  very  ground  on  which  it  stood 
was  sacred.  How  he  loved  this  ' '  Mother, "  he  showed 
by  coming  back  almost  every  year  to  the  old  home,  to 
meet  his  classmates,  the  companions  of  other  days,  and 
recall  their  common  associations.  At  the  Commence 
ment  in  1875 — fifty  years  after  the  graduation  of  his 
class — he  delivered  the  Address  before  the  Literary 
Societies,  in  which  he  christened  his  Alma  Mater 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE.  31 

"Williams  the  Beautiful."  A  few  passages  will  show 
the  spirit  of  the  whole : 

"We,  who  have  returned  to  this  beloved  teacher  of  our  youth, 
have  come  to  recall  and  commemorate  the  past.  We  are  think 
ing  less  of  the  new  than  of  the  old.  We  lay  aside  for  the  day 
whatever  thoughts  of  the  busy  world  outside  might  disturb  the 
place  or  the  time,  while  we  revisit  the  scenes  of  college  life,  call 
up  again  the  memories  of  those  early  years,  take  one  another 
by  the  hand,  look  into  one  another's  faces,  listen  to  one  another's 
voices,  and  rekindle  sympathies  dormant  or  forgotten.  How 
ever  long  or  short  be  the  time  since  we  went  forth  from  the 
gates  of  this  valley,  however  divergent  our  paths  of  life,  we 
stand  here  as  brethren.  The  youngest  among  us  is  the  comrade 
of  the  oldest,  as  the  recruit  of  to-day  in  a  regiment  that  bears 
upon  its  colors  the  names  of  a  hundred  fights,  looks  upon  the 
veteran  as  his  comrade,  and  himself  as  one  of  a  line  of  soldiers, 
inheritor  and  partaker  of  their  fame.  Here  as  there  the  files 
are  continuous  despite  the  changes  in  the  ranks.  Once  a  year 
we  have  our  muster,  and  though  each  roll-call,  like  that  of  the 
morning  after  battle,  bears  many  a  name  to  which  there  is  no 
answer,  our  lines,  however  thinned,  are  never  broken. 

"The  sight  of  these  faces,  of  these  old  roofs  and  halls,  of  these 
meadows  and  streams,  and  of  these  encircling  hills,  so  quickens 
the  inward  sense  that  it  sees  forms  that  have  vanished  and  hears 
voices  that  are  silent  forever.  I  behold  my  classmates  as  I 
beheld  them  then  filing  into  the  chapel,  or  gathered  at  recita 
tions,  or  sauntering  along  the  walks,  or  resting  beneath  the 
trees.  I  mark  their  gait;  I  hear  their  earnest  debate,  their 
hearty  laugh,  and  I  recall  the  strifes,  the  friendships,  the  greet 
ings  and  the  partings  of  those  far-off  days.  I  look  into  the  sky 
— it  is  the  sky  of  my  boyhood ;  the  stars  clear  and  silent  shine 
upon  me  as  they  shone  fifty  years  ago. 


32  WILLIAMS    COLLEGE. 

"We  carne  as  boys;  we  studied  and  contended  with  one 
another.  No  doubt  of  the  future  gave  us  disquietude.  The 
hereafter  was  the  land  of  promise,  bright  with  the  dew  of  morn 
ing.  The  collegian  is  a  dreamer,  and,  for  the  most  part,  a 
dreaming  boy.  He  comes  full  of  energy,  incited  by  hope.  He 
lays  his  hand  upon  the  book  of  knowledge  and  opens  it.  What 
a  revelation  !  The  curtain  is  lifted  and  a  new  world  is  spread 
before  him.  He  finds  in  every  lesson  something  new;  the  past 
opens  its  treasures  and  Nature  reveals  herself ;  the  rocks  become 
histories ;  the  clods  grow  instinct  with  life ;  the  streams  pouring 
from  the  hills  have  something  to  tell. 

"Was  it  not  a  great  thing  for  us  that,  while  we  were  shut 
from  the  outer  world  by  these  mountain  barriers,  we  were  shut 
within  this  valley  ?  I  shall  never  cease  to  congratulate  myself 
that  my  sense  of  beauty  was  trained  within  the  circle  of  these 
mountains ;  that  the  morning  light  gilded  for  my  eyes  the  sides 
of  Grey  lock ;  that  I  saw  the  sun  at  noon  standing  over  this  end 
less  variety  of  wood,  meadow,  and  stream;  that  the  evening 
twilight  heightened  while  it  softened  the  beauty  of  noon ;  and 
that  when  I  looked  from  my  window  into  the  moonlight,  it  lay 
like  a  transparent  celestial  robe  upon  the  sleeping  valley  and 
the  watchful  hills. 

"So  we  passed  our  days.  We  formed  a  little  community  by 
ourselves.  Our  cares  were  few,  our  hopes  many,  and  our  friend 
ships  eternal.  Factitious  distinctions  take  no  root  in  college 
ground.  Nowhere  else  is  character  more  truly  measured; 
nowhere  more  than  here  is  a  sham  found  out.  The  words 
'  college-mate,  class-mate,  room-mate '  signify  a  great  deal 
beyond  ordinary  fellowship.  Two  students  sitting  under  the 
trees  at  evening,  or  "walking  in  the  moonlight,  confide  to  each 
other  their  inmost  thoughts.  The  heart  is  too  fresh  to  doubt,  too 
young  to  betray. 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE.  33 

"College  life,  though  short  reckoned  by  years,  is  long  reck 
oned  by  impressions.  These  impressions  are  as  ineradicable  as 
the  heart,  whose  pulsations  begin  and  end  with  life.  Go  where 
you  will — take  the  wings  of  morning  and  seek  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth;  lose  yourself  in  African  jungles  or  South  Sea 
islands — the  memories  of  college  days  will  go  and  abide  with 
you.  I  have  strolled  along  the  Meles  with  a  college-mate,  and 
while  we  talked  of  Homer,  who  sang  upon  its  banks,  and  of 
many  other  things,  new  and  old,  our  thoughts  reverted  to  the 
walks  along  the  Hoosac,  and  we  laughed  as  boys  laugh  over 
college  anecdotes.  I  have  stood  on  the  slopes  of  Lebanon  by 
the  side  of  an  American  missionary,  and  as  we  looked  over  the 
sea  into  the  West,  our  thoughts  outran  our  sight,  and  lighted  on 
'Williams  the  Beautiful,'  its  historic  Haystack  and  its  Mission 
Park." 

This  feeling  continued  as  long  as  he  lived.  Seldom 
did  a  Commencement  pass  that,  if  he  was  this  side  the 
Atlantic,  he  did  not  return  to  the  old  beloved  spot,  which 
had  to  him  a  peculiar  fascination.  The  mountains  about 
it  were  like  the  mountains  roundabout  Jerusalem  to  the 
pious  Jew.  Every  walk  along  the  riverside  or  among 
the  hills  had  its  associations,  so  that  he  went  about  as  in 
a  happy  dream,  recalling  times  long  past,  with  loving 
memories  of  the  living  and  the  dead.  On  the  College 
grounds  no  figure  was  more  familiar  than  his,  nor  in 
the  meetings  of  the  Alumni,  where  he  will  long  be 
remembered  with  sorrow  that  they  shall  see  his  face 
no  more. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

STUDIES  LAW  AND  ENTERS   PRACTICE  IN  NEW  YORK. 

MARRIAGE  :  DEATH  OF  HIS  WIFE  : 

A  YEAR  ABROAD. 

The  young  student  had  now  come  to  the  parting  of 
the  ways.  He  had  finished  his  College  course,  and  was 
to  choose  his  profession.  On  that  depended  his  future. 
The  character  of  his  mind,  his  habit  of  questioning,  and 
his  ardor  in  debate — what  some  would  call  his  combat- 
iveness — drew  him  to  the  profession  in  which  there  were 
great  battles  to  be  fought  and  victories  to  be  won,  and 
he  decided  in  favor  of  the  law. 

But  where  and  how  was  he  to  get  his  education? 
There  were  no  law  schools  in  those  days,  and  a  student 
was  fortunate  who  was  so  favored  as  to  have  a  chair  in  the 
office  of  some  lawyer  of  repute,  where,  in  the  intervals 
of  such  services  as  he  could  render,  he  had  the  freedom 
of  the  meagre  library,  from  which,  as  well  as  from 
observing  the  practice  in  the  courts,  he  could  pick  up 
the  rudiments  of  his  profession. 

Such  an  opportunity  came  to  him  through  a  family 
resident  in  Stockbridge,  but  that  might  have  been  said 


THE    FAMILY    OF   JUDGE    SEDGWICK.  35 

to  belong  to  the  country,  that  of  Judge  Sedgwick,  a 
veteran  of  Revolutionary  times :  who  had  been  a  mem 
ber  of  the  old  Continental  Congress;  and,  after  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives;  from  which  Washington  invited  him 
to  enter  his  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  but 
who  seems  to  have  felt  himself  more  at  home  in  Con 
gress,  where  he  served  in  both  houses,  being  three  years 
in  the  Senate,  and  again  in  the  House,  where  he  was 
Speaker  of  the  Sixth  Congress.  After  these  long  years 
of  service  to  his  country,  he  retired  from  political  life, 
and  returned  to  the  law  as  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Massachusetts.  When  he  passed  off  the  stage  he  left 
three  sons  as  the  inheritors  of  his  profession,  as  well  as 
of  his  honored  name.  The  eldest  of  these,  Mr.  Theodore 
Sedgwick,  had  long  practised  law  in  Albany,  where  he 
was  the  contemporary  and  friend  of  Martin  Van  Buren 
and  of  others  second  only  to  him.  On  retiring  from 
practice  he  returned  to  Stockbridge  and  lived  in  the  old 
ancestral  home.  But  his  former  partner,  a  gentleman 
of  Dutch  descent,  Mr.  Harmanus  Bleecker,  still  contin 
ued  in  Albany,  to  whom  he  gave  Mr.  Field  an  intro 
duction,  that  at  once  opened  his  door  to  the  new  can 
didate  for  the  bar. 

The  day  was  fixed  for  his  departure.  His  mother's 
heart  was  very  full,  and  yet  with  the  courage  that  is 
combined  with  the  tenderness  of  woman,  she  would 
have  bid  him  go,  if  duty  called  him,  like  the  Roman 


36  LEAVING   HOME.      STUDY   OF   THE   LAW. 

mother,  if  it  were  to  return  upon  his  shield  !  His  father 
always  found  strength  for  any  crisis  in  his  religious 
faith,  and  taking  his  son  into  his  study,  he  knelt  down 
and  commended  his  first-born  son  to  the  protection  of 
Almighty  God,  and  then  gave  him  for  his  only  capital, 
ten  dollars  and  a  little  Bible,  which  he  kept  to  his  dying 
day.  Thus  he  went  forth  from  under  the  paternal  roof 
with  ten  dollars,  a  Bible,  and  his  father's  prayers  !  As 
they  came  out  of  the  door,  the  old-fashioned  stage 
coach  rolled  up  and  took  him  away.  His  home  was 
behind  him  and  the  world  was  before  him  ! 

It  was  a  long  drive  across  the  country,  and  the  day 
was  far  spent  when  he  came  in  sight  of  Albany,  and 
crossing  the  river  in  a  ferryboat,  walked  up  the  hill 
that  was  crowned  by  the  Capitol  in  which  he  was  in 
the  future  to  make  so  many  arguments  before  Courts 
and  Legislatures.  If  ' '  the  heart  of  the  stranger  "  was 
at  first  very  lonely,  the  feeling  was  soon  removed  by 
the  kindness  of  Mr^Bleeckeiy  who,,  with  true  Dutch 
cordiality,  made  him  welcome,  not  only  to  his  office,  but 
to  his  home,  so  that  he  wrote  to  his  father :  *  *  My  situa 
tion  is  quite  pleasant.  Mr.  Bleecker  is  very  polite  arid 
very  kind.  I  have  every  facility  for  study  which  I  can 
wish,  and  I  endeavor  to  improve  them.  I  feel  in  good 
spirits.  Stockbridge  is  indeed  pleasanter,  but  when 
our  situation  is  not  the  best,  it  may  be  the  next  to  it " 
— a  bit  of  practical  philosophy,  to  make  the  best  of 
everything,  that  he  carried  through  life. 


REMOVES   TO   NEW    YORK.  37 

It  was  not  long  before  he  began  to  feel  at  home 
in  the  dear  old  Dutch  city,  for  which  he  had  a  kindly 
feeling  ever  after ;  but  still  his  thoughts  would  turn 
to  New  York  as  offering  a  larger  field  for  his  activ 
ity.  And  then  what  prizes  there  were  in  the  line  of  his 
profession  !  He  knew  of  a  young  man  who  realized 
from  it  five  hundred  dollars  a  year  !  ' '  Could  he  ever 
attain  to  such  greatness  as  that  !  " 

Here  again  the  way  was  opened  for  him  by  the 
Sedgwicks,  .for  while  the  eldest  of  the  family  had  been 
in  the  practice  of  law  at  Albany,  his  two  brothers, 
Henrj  and  Robert^  were  in  the  front  rank  of  their 
profession  in  New  York,  and  showed  the  same  readi 
ness  to  forward  the  interests  of  one  who  came  from  dear 
old  Stockbridge,  who,  thus  invited,  transferred  his  place 
of  study  to  the  city  that  was  to  be  his  home  for  more 
than  sixty  years. 

While  referring  to  this  act  of  kindness,  I  cannot 
refrain  from  mentioning  another  instance  of  the  same 
which  was  told  me  by  the  person  concerned,  the  late 
William  C.  Bryant,  who,  like  Mr.  Field,  had  studied  at 
Williams  College,  and  afterwards  entered  on  the  prac 
tice  of  law  in  Great  Barrington.  But  as  the  shy  tem 
perament  of  the  poet  did  not  promise  great  success 
at  the  bar,  Mr.  Henry  D.  Sedgwick  invited  him  to 
come  to  New  York,  with  the  kind  assurance  that  he 
"would  see  what  he  could  do  for  him,"  and  showed  his 
friendship  by  introducing  him  to  literary  occupation 


38  HIS    MARRIAGE. 

that  ended  in  his  connection  with  the  Evening  Post, 
which  brought  both  fame  and  fortune,  an  obligation 
that  he  was  always  ready  to  acknowledge,  even  when 
he  had  risen  to  such  eminence  that  there  was  no  man 
in  all  the  city  who  was  held  in  higher  respect.  Mr. 
Bryant  and  Mr.  Field  came  to  New  York  about  the 
same  time,  and  boarded  in  the  same  house,  and  thus 
began  an  intimacy  and  friendship  which  continued 
through  life. 

The  change  to  New  York  was  altogether  to  his  taste, 
as  he  was  more  in  the  current  of  life,  with  everything 
to  stimulate  his  ardor  in  his  profession.  His  first  busi 
ness  was  to  make  himself  master  of  the  law,  to  which 
he  applied  his  mind  with  such  intensity  as  excluded 
everything  beside.  Day  and  night  he  thought  of  noth 
ing  else.  By  this  devotion  he  so  approved  himself  to 
the  Messrs.  Sedgwick,  that  when  the  elder  brother, 
Henry,  was  obliged  by  ill  health  to  retire  from  practice, 
the  younger,  Robert,  invited  Mr.  Field  to  become  his 
partner,  a  promotion  which  not  only  gratified  his  youth 
ful  ambition,  but  enabled  him  to  take  another  step  that 
was  needed  to  complete  his  happiness.  In  the  year  1829 
(October  26th),  when  he  was  but  twenty-four  years  old, 
he  was  married  to  Jane  Lucinda  Hopkins,  a  cousin  of 
Mark  Hopkins,  who  united  such  grace  of  person  with 
such  refinement  of  manner,  so  much  sweetness  with  so 
much  character,  that  he  was  the  happiest  of  men  in  the 
thought  that  he  should  always  have  that  gentle  figure 


DEATH   OF   HIS   WIFE.  39 

at  his  side ;  and  when  a  year  later  he  took  in  his  arms 
his  first-born,  a  son,  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  nothing 
more  that  he  could  ask  of  God.  And  yet  there  was  one 
thing  more — a  daughter,  as  a  companion  to  the  little 
brother,  which  was  also  his  three  years  later. 

But  all  this  brightness  was  too  much  to  last.  After 
but  little  more  than  six  years,  the  bride  of  his  youth 
was  taken  from  him,  to  be  followed  a  few  months  later 
by  a  last  child,  not  a  year  old,  who,  even  in  the  grave, 
was  laid  to  sleep  on  her  mother's  breast.  Thus  in  a 
few  months  all  of  joy  that  the  world  had  given  him, 
had  vanished  out  of  sight,  and  sick  of  heart,  he  left — 
not  his  home,  for  home  he  had  none — but  his  city  and 
his  country,  and  crossed  the  sea. 

In  after  years  Mr.  Field  repeated  the  voyage  so  often 
that  Europe  became  almost  as  familiar  to  him  as  his 
own  country.  And  yet  there  is  never  but  one  first 
view,  when  all  impressions  are  fresh  and  new.  A  few 
dates  recall  his  first  glimpses  of  England  and  the  Con 
tinent  : 

"On  the  3d  of  May,  1836,  I  took  passage  in  the  packet  West 
minster  for  London.  There  were  no  steamers  on  the  Atlantic  in 
those  days.  Among  the  passengers  were  Horace  Binney,  Pro 
fessor  Hare,  and  John  Hare  Powell.  On  the  28th  of  May  we 
arrived  off  the  coast  of  Cornwall  where  the  ship  was  becalmed, 
and  most  of  the  passengers,  including  myself,  went  ashore  at 
Falmouth.  The  beauty  of  England  at  that  season  was  enchant 
ing.  The  hawthorn  hedges  were  in  blossom.  I  took  the  mail 
coach  for  Exeter,  and  from  there  posted  to  Bath,  and  from  Bath 


40  A   YEAR   ABROAD. 

rode  on  the  outside  of  a  coach,  the  most  delightful  way  of  seeing 
the  country,  to  London.  I  remember  well  my  sensations  at  see 
ing  Windsor  Castle,  with  the  royal  standard  flying,  as  we  drove 
past  in  the  valley  below.  The  sights  of  London  were  of  course 
very  attractive  to  me,  as  I  had  read  of  them  all  my  life.  My 
eyes  devoured  Westminster  Abbey,  Westminster  Hall,  Temple 
Bar,  the  Tower,  and  the  other  historical  places.  I  witnessed  the 
parade  in  Hyde  Park  on  the  anniversary  of  Waterloo,  when  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  received  the  salute  of  the  troops,  and  I 
remember  the  people  going  in  and  out  of  Apsley  House,  to  see 
the  tables  set  for  the  Waterloo  Banquet.  In  the  House  of  Lords 
I  heard  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Lord  Holland,  Earl  Gray,  and 
the  Lord  Chancellor.  I  remember  the  Duke  presenting  a  peti 
tion  in  which  the  petitioners  asked  that  the  Lords  should  not 
yield  to  intimidation,  *  That,  my  Lords,'  said  the  Duke,  as  he 
laid  down  the  petition,  in  the  tone  of  one  accustomed  to  give 
orders,  '  is  also  my  opinion. '  In  the  House  of  Commons  I  heard 
O'Connell,  who  in  the  course  of  his  speech,  referring  to  the 
upholders  of  Irish  grievances,  said  '  They  are  men  of  blood ! ' 
at  which  there  was  a  loud  cry  of  *  No  1  No  ! '  and  the  Speaker 
drawled  out,  *  Order  !  Order  ! ' 

"After  a  few  days'  stay  in  London  I  went  to  Paris  by  the 
Malle-Post,  taking  a  seat  in  the  coupe.  From  Paris,  where  I 
spent  a  week  or  two,  I  returned  to  London  through  Belgium, 
and  soon  set  out  for  a  tour  on  the  Continent,  visiting  Holland, 
Germany,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Finland,  Russia,  Poland,  Bohe 
mia,  Austria,  and  Italy." 

Of  this  first  year  in  Europe  he  wrote  on  his  return  a 
number  of  sketches  full  of  the  life  and  spirit  of  a  young 
American  abroad  for  the  first  time,  under  the  title  of 
"  Sketches  over  the  Sea,"  that  appeared  in  the  Demo 
cratic  Review. 


RETURN   TO   AMERICA.  41 

This  absence  from  his  country  was  for  more  than  a 
year  and  at  a  very  critical  time.  When  he  returned  in 
July,  1837,  it  was  to  find  the  country  in  a  financial  col 
lapse.  A  panic  had  swept  all  the  cities,  and  there  was 
a  frightful  state  of  alarm  in  all  directions.  But  such 
was  the  very  time  when  men  needed  the  counsel  of 
the  ablest  and  most  trusted  legal  advisers.  Mr.  Field 
entered  at  once  on  the  duties  of  his  profession,  and  soon 
found  his  practice  larger  than  ever.  If  success  at  the 
bar  had  been  his  sole  ambition,  he  had  as  much  of  it 
as  any  man  of  his  age  in  the  country.  But  there  was 
something  connected  with  the  law  that  attracted  him 
still  more :  not  the  law  as  it  was,  but  as  it  should  be — 
an  ideal  of  the  law,  which  now  rose  like  a  star  above 
the  horizon,  towards  which  he  was  to  direct  his  course 
during  the  remainder  of  his  long  and  eventful  career. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  REFORM  OF  THE  LAW.     THE  CODES  OF  CIVIL 
AND  CRIMINAL  PROCEDUEE. 

When  David  Dudley  Field  began  the  study  of  law, 
it  was  with  a  feeling  of  reverence  amounting  almost  to 
awe.  The  libraries  were  filled  with  books  giving  the 
laws  of  England  and  of  all  European  states,  illustrated 
by  thousands  of  cases,  which  showed  how  the  law  was 
applied,  not  only  in  the  familiar  relations  of  life,  but  in 
almost  every  case  that  was  possible  or  conceivable  in 
human  society.  These  mighty  tomes,  dark  with  age, 
embodied  the  wisdom  of  past  generations — the  wisdom 
of  all  countries  and  all  times — the  priceless  inheritance 
from  all  the  past  to  the  present  and  to  the  future  in 
secula  seculoruin — an  inheritance  which  it  was  almost 
sacrilege  to  touch. 

Such  was  the  feeling  with  which  this  seeker  after 
knowledge  and  wisdom  entered  upon  the  study  of  the 
law.  Nor  was  it  a  feeling  that  he  ever  fully  got  over. 
He  was  never,  as  some  have  supposed,  an  iconoclast 
who  would  break  down  all  ancient  traditions.  On  the 
contrary,  he  would  conserve,  not  only  "with  judicious 


DEFECTS   OP   THE   LAW.  43 

care,"  but  with  religious  care,  all  the  treasures  of  wis 
dom  and  of  learning  that  have  come  down  from  the 
past.  Beginning  the  study  of  the  law  with  this  feeling, 
the  first  thing  which  he  attempted  was  to  make  himself 
master  of  the  practice,  and  so  hard  did  he  work  that  he 
had  reason  to  say  that  "if  ever  there  was  anything 
which  he  understood,  it  was  the  practice  at  common 
law  and  in  equity  as  then  established  in  the  Courts 
of  New  York. "  But  he  had  not  gone  very  far  in  his 
studies  before  he  began  to  have  misgivings  as  to  whe 
ther  the  law  as  ' '  received  from  the  fathers  "  was  abso 
lutely  ideal  in  its  perfection.  The  more  he  studied  it, 
the  more  did  it  seem  to  him  a  very  artificial  structure — - 
complicated  by  a  multitude  of  legal  technicalities  that 
made  of  it  almost  an  occult  science,  to  be  understood 
only  by  the  initiated.  In  this  opinion  he  was  confirmed 
by  Mr.  Henry  D.  Sedgwick,  who  had  begun  the  prac 
tice  of  law  in  Massachusetts,  and  found  it  much  less 
embarrassed  by  these  technical  details  than  in  New 
York,  where  an  excess  of  forms  made  the  progress  of 
a  case  through  the  courts  very  slow.  This  might  serve 
the  purpose  of  legal  practitioners,  as  it  made  their  ser 
vices  the  more  necessary,  or  indeed  indispensable,  but 
did  it  serve  the  purpose  of  those  who  appealed  to  the 
law  for  protection  ?  Was  there  no  way  to  hasten  the 
laggard  steps  of  justice  ? 

While  he  was  thus  groping  towards  the  light,   he 
was  confirmed  in  his  doubts  by  a  couple  of  opinions 


A   DREAM    OF   REFORM. 

from  high  authorities.  One  was  Livingston's  Report 
of  a  Code  for  Louisiana;  the  other  a  Discourse  on 
the  History  and  Nature  of  the  Common  Law,  delivered 
before  the  New  York  Historical  Society  by  William 
Sampson  in  1823,  and  republished  with  other  papers 
under  the  title  "  On  Codes  and  Common  Law." 

Out  of  all  this  reading  and  thinking  came  into  the 
mind  of  the  young  student  at  law  a  vague  and  misty 
dream  of  something  better,  which  slowly  crystallized 
into  a  conception  of  a  Reform,  and  then  into  a  purpose 
of  attempting  it,  even  if  he  should  have  to  undertake  it 
single-handed  and  alone.  But  what  could  he  do  ?  As 
long  as  he  was  but  the  junior  partner  of  an  eminent 
lawyer,  it  was  not  his  business  to  make  the  law,  but  to 
practise  it.  But  afterward,  when  he  opened  an  office 
for  himself,  he  was  more  free  to  indulge  his  dreams. 
Now  that  he  was  his  own  master,  was  there  anything 
that  he  could  do  ?  The  ideal  was  plain  enough :  it  could 
be  stated  in  a  sentence,  for  if  had  but  two  elements : 
first,  that  the  law,  as  enacted  by  human  governments, 
should  be  founded  in  natural  justice;  and  second,  that 
it  should  be  set  forth  in  the  simplest  and  clearest  lan 
guage,  so  that  it  should  be  * '  understanded  of  the  people. " 
These  two  points  comprised  the  whole  vast  question  of 
law  reform. 

Reform  of  the  Law  !  It  was  a  high-sounding 
phrase,  that  must  carry  in  it  something  that  is  vital  to 
the  State:  something  which  goes  down  to  the  very 


LAW   AND    EQUITY.  <,  4& 

foundations  of  government — to  the  granite  base  on 
which  rests  the  mighty  fabric  of  human  society.  That 
the  reform  might  be  complete,  it  must  combine  the  sub 
stance  of  the  law  with  the  modes  of  procedure  in  the 
courts  whereby  justice  is  administered.  In  the  natural 
order  of  division  we  should  begin  with  the  substance  of! 
the  law.  But  in  taking  down  a  mighty  structure  which  I 
has  been  the  work  of  ages,  to  rebuild  it,  it  is  more  con 
venient  to  begin  at  the  top,  and  dismantle  it  by  degrees, 
taking  away  stone  by  stone,  and  replacing  the  old  by 
the  new.  Following  this  toilsome  but  solid  method  of 
reconstruction,  the  first  step  in  Law  Reform  was  in  the 
Codes  of  Procedure. 

Mr.  Field  had  long  felt  that  the  great  impediment  to 
justice  was  that  the  way  was  made  wearisome  by  the 
double  mode  of  Procedure  in  Law  and  Equity,  which 
was  a  sort  of  double-tracked  road,  on  which  a  man  • 
travelled  the  distance  twice  over — first  being  ushered 
into  a  luxurious  carriage,  where  he  reclined  on  soft 
cushions,  and  was  carried  swiftly  and  smoothly  over 
the  ground  for  a  hundred  miles ;  at  the  end  of  which  he 
was  received  most  graciously,  and  assisted  across  the 
track  to  another  drawing-room  car  fitted  up  in  the  same 
gorgeous  style,  and  in  a  few  hours  was  whirled  back  to 
the  place  from  which  he  started  !  On  alighting,  his  im 
pressions  were  somewhat  divided.  It  was  certainly  the 
poetry  of  motion,  but  as  to  progress  toward  his  final  des 
tination,  really  he  might  as  well  have  stayed  at  home  ! 


SYSTEM   OF   LEGAL   PROCEDURE. 

Such  was  the  system  of  procedure  in  the  Courts 
when  he  returned  to  this  country  in  the  summer  of 
1837,  and  he  began  to  consider  what  he  could  do  for  its 
improvement.  His  first  public  effort  was  a  Letter  to 
Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  published  in  1839,  on  the  Reform 
of  our  Judicial  System.  After  this  he  went  to  Albany, 
and  addressed  a  Committee  of  the  Legislature  on  the 
subject.  Two  years  later,  at  the  general  election  in 
November,  1841,  he  sought  and  obtained  a  nomina 
tion  from  the  Democratic  party  for  the  Assembly  of 
New  York,  with  the  view  of  introducing  law  reform 
measures  into  the  Legislature.  Being  defeated  through 
the  interference  of  Bishop  Hughes  in  his  opposition  to 
the  Public  School  system,  then  prevailing  in  New  York, 
which  he  wished  to  subvert,  he  contented  himself  with 
preparing  the  draft  of  three  Bills  to  be  introduced  by 
Mr.  0' Sullivan,  his  colleague  in  the  candidacy,  accom 
panied  by  a  long  Letter  in  explanation  of  their  provis 
ions.  These  Bills  were  introduced;  but  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  to  which  they  were  referred,  did  not  adopt 
or  recommend  them.  They  were  printed,  however, 
with  the  Letter,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Assembly. 

The  calling  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  pur 
suant  to  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  1845,  gave  him  a 
new  opportunity.  Before  the  delegates  were  elected, 
and  in  January,  184G,  he  wrote  and  published  in  the 
Evening  Post  a  series  of  articles  on  * '  The  Reorgan 
ization  of  the  Judiciary,"  which  were  collected  in  a 


REFORM  OF  PRACTICE   OF   THE   COURTS.  4? 

pamphlet  and  widely  circulated.  He  wished  to  obtain 
a  seat  in  the  Convention,  with  a  view  to  promoting  law 
reform ;  but  the  unpopularity  to  which  he  had  subjected 
himself  by  his  hostility  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  and 
the  extension  of  slavery,  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
obtain  a  nomination  from  the  Democratic  party,  then 
the  only  one  from  which  he  could  expect  an  election. 
But  if  he  was  not  permitted  to  influence  the  Convention 
by  his  voice  within  its  walls,  he  could  influence  it  from 
without,  and  he  did  so  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  by  / 
conversation  and  correspondence  with  the  members,  and 
by  articles  in  the  newspapers.  The  Convention  met  on 
the  first  of  June,  and  during  the  whole  summer  he  kept 
at  work.  The  Evening  Post  alone  had  nine  or  ten 
articles  from  him,  relating  to  different  parts  of  the 
Constitution.  The  instrument  which  the  Convention 
offered  to  the  people  was  adopted  at  the  general  election 
in  November.  It  contained  two  law  reforming  provis 
ions — one  in  the  first  article,  aiming  at  a  general  Code ; 
and  the  other  in  the  sixth  article,  aiming  at  the  Reform 
of  the  Practice;  both  to  be  set  in  motion  by  appoint 
ments  of  the  Legislature.  Both  of  these  provisions 

I 

owed  their  existence  very  much  to  his  voice  and  pen. 

In  anticipation  of  the  action  of  the  Legislature,  he  \ 
published  on  the  first  of  January,  1847,  a  little  treat-    ! 
ise  of  thirty-five  pages,  entitled  ' '  What  shall  be  done 
with  the  Practice  of  the  Courts?     Shall  it  be  wholly 
reformed?     Questions  addressed  to  lawyers."     This  he 


48  MEMORIAL   TO   THE   LEGISLATURE. 

followed  up  by  a  Memorial  to  the  Legislature  before  the 
passage  of  any  act  by  that  body,  to  which  he  pro 
cured  the  signatures  of  Vice  Chancellor  McCoun, 
Charles  O'Conor,  E.  P.  Hurlbut,  F.  B.  Cutting,  T^ieo- 
dore  Sedgwick,  James  J.  Roosevelt,  Joseph  S.  Bos- 
worth,  Erastus  C.  Benedict,  and  forty- three  other  law 
yers  of  New  York.  It  was  in  these  words  : 

"  To  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York : 

"  The  memorial  of  the  undersigned  members  of  the  Bar  in 
the  City  of  New  York  respectfully  represents  that  they  look  with 
great  solicitude  for  the  action  of  your  honorable  bodies  in  respect 
to  the  revision,  reform,  simplification  and  abridgment  of  the 
rules  and  practice,  pleadings,  forms  and  proceedings  of  the 
courts  of  record.  They  are  persuaded  that  a  radical  reform  of 
legal  procedure  in  all  its  departments  is  demanded  by  the  inter 
ests  of  justice  and  by  the  voice  of  the  people ;  that  a  uniform 
course  of  proceeding  in  all  cases  legal  and  equitable  is  entirely 
practicable,  and  no  less  expedient ;  and  that  a  radical  reform 
should  aim  at  such  uniformity,  and  at  the  abolition  of  all  useless 
forms  and  proceedings. 

"Your  memorialists,  therefore,  pray  your  honorable  bodies 
to  declare  by  the  Act  appointing  Commissioners,  that  it  shall  be 
their  duty  to  provide  for  the  abolition  of  the  present  forms  of 
action  and  pleadings  in  cases  at  common  law,  for  a  uniform 
course  of  proceeding  in  all  cases,  whether  of  legal  or  equitable 
cognizance,  and  for  the  abandonment  of  every  form  or  pro 
ceeding  not  necessary  to  ascertain  or  preserve  the  rights  of  the 
parties."* 

*  This  was  presented  to  the  Legislature,  and  a  section  introduced  into 
the  pending  Bill  in  accordance  with  the  Memorial,  except  that  the  word 
which  Mr.  Field  wrote  *' every  "  was  by  mistake  made  to  read  "any." 


CODES   OF   PROCEDURE.  49 

Mr.  Field's  name  was  naturally  brought  forward  in 
connection  with  the  appointment  of  Commissioner  ;  but 
the  conservative  feeling  was  too  strong,  he  was  too  rad 
ical,  and  Mr.  Nicholas  Hill  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 
The   Commission,  consisting  of   Mr.    Hill,  Mr.   David 
Graham,  and  Mr.   Arphaxad  Loomis,  was  established 
by  a  law  passed  April  8th,  1847.     The  Commissioners 
could  not  agree,   however,  in   carrying   out   this   pro 
vision,  and  Mr.  Hill  resigned  in  September.     By  that 
time  the  feeling  in  favor  of  radical  reform  had  been 
strengthened,  and  Mr.  Field  was  appointed  in  Mr.  Hill's 
place  by  a  resolution  of  the   two   Houses  passed  011 
the  29th  of  that  month.     Meantime  he  had  published  j 
' '  Some  suggessions  respecting  the  rules  to  be  estab-  : 
lished  by  the  Supreme  Court,"  designed  to  effect  a  con 
siderable  reform  in  the  pleadings  and  practice.     Upon 
the  reorganization  of  the  Commission,  it  went  to  work  j 
in  earnest,  and  on  the  29th  of  February,  1848,  reported  • 
to  the  Legislature  the  first  instalment  of  the  Code  of 
Civil   Procedure.      This  was   enacted   on  the  12th  of 
April  following,  with  very  little  change,  and  went  into 
effect  on  the  first  of  July.     It  was,  however,  but  an 
instalment  of  the  whole  work  contemplated,  and  the 
residue  was  reported  from  time  to  time  in  four  different  j 
"Reports,  until  the  first  of  January,  1850,  when  com 
pleted  Codes  of  Civil  and  Criminal  Procedure  were  sub 
mitted  to  the  Legislature.     These  two  works  covered 
the  whole  ground  of  remedial  law. 


50  THE  WORK   OF  TWENTY-FOUR   HOURS. 

"The  whole  ground  of  remedial  law  !"  Only  six 
words  !  Yet  it  is  not  easy  to  take  in  the  vast  terri 
tory  they  cover,  and  the  labor  they  involve  !  This  fell 
most  upon  Mr.  Field,  for  though  he  had  two  associates 
on  the  Commission,  they  recognized  the  movement  for 
reform  as  begun  by  him,  and  to  him,  as  the  gallant  leader, 
they  left  the  chief  burden,  which  he  in  his  eagerness 
for  the  cause  was  not  unwilling  to  bear.  The  labor 
involved  was  almost  incredible.  Of  this  I  can  speak 
from  personal  observation.  In  the  year  1847  I  went 
abroad,  and  spent  the  following  winter  in  Paris,  where  I 
was  a  witness  of  the  Revolution  of  1848,  which  upturned 
all  Europe.  Returning  in  the  autumn,  I  passed  the 
winter  of  1848-9  in  New  York,  and  under  Mr.  Field's 
roof.  He  was  then  in  the  midst  of  his  work  on  the 
Commission,  and  I  looked  on  with  amazement  at  the 
amount  of  labor  that  he  did  in  every  twenty-four  hours, 
for  he  was  at  the  same  time  carrying  on  a  profes 
sional  practice  which  had  grown  to  be  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  city.  '  No  man  stood  higher  at  the  bar,  or 
was  engaged  in  more  important  cases  both  in  the  State 
and  the  Federal  Courts.  It  was  at  such  a  time,  when 
he  was  already  doing  the  work  of  half  a  dozen  men, 
that  this  additional  burden  was  put  upon  his  shoulders. 

But  he  did  not  shrink  from  the  double  duty,  though  he 
could  not  have  borne  it  but  by  the  most  careful  economy 
of  his  strength.  As  he  was  "  called  to  be  a  soldier,"  he 


HOW   HE   DIVIDED   THE   DAY.  51 

divided  the  hours  of  the  day  with  military  precision.  He 
rose  early,  and,  taking  a  cup  of  tea,  mounted  his  horse, 
which  was  standing  at  the  door,  unless  it  was  a  bitter 
winter  day,  and  rode  up  one  of  the  avenues  towards 
what  is  now  the  Central  Park.  This  morning  ride  was 
never  intermitted  except  in  the  severest  weather.  After 
breakfast,  if  he  was  not  required  to  be  at  the  opening 
of  the  courts,  he  shut  himself  up  for  two  or  three  hours 
in  his  library  on  the  work  of  the  Commission,  and 
then  walked  rapidly  down  town.  Everybody  knew 
him,  for  he  was  tall  and  straight  as  a  grenadier,  and  he 
passed  down  Broadway  with  rapid  strides,  like  a  sol 
dier  marching  to  battle.  From  his  office  he  went  to  the 
courts,  where  he  remained  till  a  late  hour  of  the  after 
noon,  when  he  walked  home  again.  The  hour  of  dinner 
was  one  of  perfect  abandon,  into  which  no  word  of 
business  was  allowed  to  intrude  :  the  hour  belonged  to 
his  family,  and  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  enjoyment 
of  their  society.  When  the  last  good  story  was  told, 
and  the  last  laugh  went  round  the  table,  he  threw  him 
self  upon  a  sofa  for  a  half  hour's  rest,  from  which  he 
rose  like  a  giant  refreshed  with  wine,  and  ready  for  his 
magnum  opus !  Now  the  deck  was  cleared,  and  he 
gave  himself  to  that  which  was  at  once  the  task  and 
the  joy  of  his  life,  the  reconstruction  of  the  Codes,  the 
fascination  of  which  often  kept  him  at  his  work  till  long 
after  midnight. 

A  life  like  this,  kept  up  month  after  month,  year 


52  VISIT   TO   ENGLAND. 

in  and  year  out,  would  kill  most  men:  it  would  have 
killed  him,  but  for  the  one  "  saving  clause  "  that  nature 
had  put  into  his  iron  frame.  After  the  day's  ' '  fitful 
fever "  he  slept  well.  He  had  not  only  the  power  of 
continuous  labor  such  as  I  never  saw  in  any  other 
man,  but  when  the  work  was  done,  Le  could  put  his 
hand  on  the  machine  and  stop  it  in  an  instant.  He  would 
work  all  day  and  all  night,  and  for  days  and  nights  to 
gether,  with  only  the  briefest  snatches  of  sleep ;  but  when 
all  was  over,  he  could  lie  down  and  fall  asleep  like  a  child. 
By  this  heroic  discipline,  and  the  alternation  of  work 
and  rest,  he  kept  the  fire  in  his  bones,  and  the  blood  in 
his  veins,  till  he  breathed  his  last  in  his  ninetieth  year. 
There  was  also  another  restorative  that  he  found  in 
his  voyages  to  Europe.  He  loved  the  sea.  He  was  a 
good  sailor,  never  yielding  to  the  roughest  storm,  and 
so  in  his  later  life  he  went  abroad  almost  every  year. 
The  fame  of  his  codes  went  before  him,  so  that  his 
reputation  was  as  great  in  England  as  in  America, 
perhaps  greater,  as  he  had  not  been  there,  as  here,  in 
such  fierce  antagonism  with  his  opponents.  In  August, 
1850,  he  went  abroad  with  his  family  and  left  them  in 
Rome,  returning  to  New  York  in  December.  In  Eng 
land  he  found  a  small  but  determined  party  of  reform 
grappling  with  the  double-headed  monster  of  Law  and 
Equity.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Law  Amendment  Soci 
ety,  at  which  he  was  present  by  invitation,  Sir  Rich 
ard  Bethel,  afterward  Lord  Chancellor  Westbury, 


MOVEMENT   FOR    LAW   REFORM.  53 

made  a  speech  in  which  he  said  that  he  thought  it  ' '  a 
burning  shame  that  a  party  could  recover  a  judgment 
on  one  side  of  Westminster  Hall,  and  on  the  other  side 
be  branded  as  a  fraudulent  rogue  for  having  recovered 
it!"  And  yet  in  presence  of  this  monstrous  absurdity 
all  the  legal  wisdom  of  England  seemed  insufficient  to 
devise  a  remedy.  Even  Lord  Brougham,  who  had 
taken  up  the  cause  of  Law  Reform  with  his  accustomed 
energy,  while  he  commended  the  efforts  for  the  fusion 
of  Law  and  Equity  in  America,  doubted  if  it  could  be 
effected  in  England.  Perhaps,  however,  the  long  inter 
view  that  he  had  with  Mr.  Field  may  have  removed 
his  doubts,  for  only  a  few  months  after  he  wrote  from 
Cannes  that  sooner  or  later  it  was  sure  to  be  adopted. 

How  new  life  was  put  into  the  movement  for  Law 
Reform  appears  from  the  following  in  the  London 
Spectator  : 

"The  visit  of  Mr.  Dudley  Field  to  England,  and  his  interest 
ing  statements  to  the  members  of  our  Law  Amendment  Society 
this  week,  are  real  events  in  the  progress  of  law  reform  in  this 
country.  The  injustice  which  the  English  people  submit  to  in 
the  revered  name  of  Law,  and  in  the  sacred,  but  in  their  case 
profaned,  name  of  Equity,  is  more  enormous  than  the  future 
historian  will  be  able  remotely  to  conceive.  The  keystone  of 
the  barbarous  Gothic  portal  to  Justice  in  our  common- law  pro 
cedure  was  struck  out  some  twenty  years  ago,  when  the  logical 
forms  of  legal  contest  were  reduced  to  their  now  moderate  num 
ber;  other  heavy  blows  have  further  undermined  the  ruin,  and 
almost  cleared  away  whatever  was  feudal  in  that  portion  of 


54  LAW   REFORM  IN  ENGLAND. 

their  edifice ;  and  then  came  the  raising  of  the  new  and  noble 
portal  of  the  County  Courts.  Still,  in  all  but  the  most  trivial 
litigation  the  delay  and  expense  are  such  that  justice  can  only 
be  had  at  a  per  centage  utterly  disgraceful  to  a  nation  either 
honest  or  merely  clear-handed  and  commercial.  We  still  pre 
serve  a  diversity  of  tribunals,  to  administer  laws  that  ought  not 
to  be  inharmonious;  and  we  are  prevented  from  making  the 
laws  harmonious  by  the  difficulties  of  finding  tribunals  able  to 
rule  the  concord  and  administer  the  whole  field  of  law  as  a  sin 
gle  empire.  In  this  case,  as  in  a  multitude  of  others,  our  young 
relations  across  the  Atlantic  have  done  that  which  we  only 
longed  to  do.  In  this  rivalry  of  nations,  so  far  above  all  other 
rivalries,  they  have  pushed  development  of  institutions  which 
they  received  from  forefathers  common  to  us  both,  to  a  more 
rapid  perfection  than  we.  Mr.  Dudley  Field  is  one  of  three  men 
who  framed  a  constitutional  law  for  the  State  of  New  York, 
under  which  the  courts  of  legal  and  equitable  jurisdiction  have 
been  successfully  merged ;  the  enactment  has  succeeded  in  prac 
tical  working ;  and  the  spectacle  of  '  Equity  swallowing  up  Law ' 
has  been  so  edifying  to  the  citizens  of  his  State  that  three  other 
States  of  the  Union  have  resolved  to  enact,  and  four  further 
States  have  appointed  conferences  to  deliberate  upon,  a  similar 
procedure.  It  is  impossible — however  narrow-minded  lawyers 
may  object — that  what  Americans  find  practicable  and  bene 
ficial  should  be  either  impracticable  or  disadvantageous  to  Eng 
lishmen." 

Returning  to  New  York  in  December,  Mr.  Field 
published  in  the  Evening  Post  five  articles  on  ' '  The 
Completion  of  the  Code,"  designed  to  secure  the  imme 
diate  adoption  by  the  Legislature  of  the  two  Codes  of 
Procedure  which  had  been  reported  complete.  But 


SPEECH   OF   LORD   SHERBROOKE.  55 

they  had  still  several  years  to  wait.  In  May,  1851,  he 
rejoined  his  family  in  Europe,  and  travelled  with  them 
over  a  great  portion  of  the  Continent,  and  into  Egypt 
and  Palestine.  While  in  England,  on  his  return  home, 
a  dinner  was  given  him  at  the  London  Tavern  by  the 
members  of  the  Law  Amendment  Society,  an  account 
of  which  was  published  in  the  Morning  Chronicle  of  the 
next  day,  December  22,  1851.  Among  the  speakers  was 
Robert  Lowe,  afterwards  Lord  Sherbrooke,  who  was 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  under  Mr.  Gladstone.  He 
had  lived  for  some  years  in  Australia,  and  knew  how 
wise  laws,  whether  framed  in  England  or  America, 
affected  legislation  at  the  very  extremities  of  the  British 
empire.  In  his  speech  he  paid  a  tribute  to  Mr.  Field 
such  as  has  seldom  been  paid  to  any  legislator,  living 
or  dead.  He  said : 

' '  He  trusted  that  his  honorable  friend,  Mr.  Field, 
would  go  down  to  posterity  with  this  glory — that  he 
had  not  only  essentially  served  one  of  the  greatest  coun 
tries  in  the  States  of  America,  but  that  he  had  also  pro 
vided  a  cheap  and  satisfactory  code  of  law  for  every 
colony  that  bore  the  English  name.  Mr.  Field,  indeed, 
had  not  squared  the  circle ;  he  had  not  found  out  any 
solid  which  answered  to  more  than  three  denominations ; 
he  had  not  discovered  any  power  more  subtle  than  elec 
tricity,  nor  one  that  would  bow  with  more  docility  to 
the  service  of  man  than  steam.  But  he  had  done 


5G  TRIBUTE   TO   MR.  FIELD. 

greater  things :  he  had  laid  the  foundations  of  peace, 
happiness,  and  tranquillity,  in  the  establishment  of  a 
system  which  would  make  law  a  blessing  instead  of  a 
scourge  to  mankind.  He  believed  that  no  acquisition 
of  modern  times — if  he  rightly  understood  what  had 
been  done  in  the  State  of  New  York — he  believed  that 
no  achievement  of  the  intellect  was  to  be  compared  to 
that  by  which  Mr.  Field  had  removed  the  absurdities 
and  the  technicalities  under  which  New  York,  in  com 
mon  with  this  country  and  the  colonies,  had  so  long 
groaned."  And  again:  "As  to  the  colonies,  he  could 
only  repeat  that  he  trusted  the  example  of  New  York 
would  not  be  lost  upon  them.  While  England  was 
debating  upon  the  propriety  of  some  small  and  paltry 
reforms  in  the  administration  of  law,  a  great  master  in 
the  art  of  administrative  reform  had  risen  there  in  the 
person  of  his  distinguished  friend,  Mr.  Field,  and  had 
solved  the  problem  which  they  in  England  were  timidly 
debating.  America  had  a  great  future  before  her,  in 
the  establishment  and  diffusion  of  the  arts  of  peace. 
Let  them  leave  to  others — to  absolute  governments — to 
have  their  subjects  shot  down  in  the  street,  rather  than 
wait  even  for  the  headlong  injustice  of  a  court-martial ; 
but  let  it  be  the  lot  of  England,  hand  in  hand  with 
America,  to  lead  the  way  in  the  arts  of  Jurisprudence 
as  well  as  in  other  arts — let  them  aim  at  being  the  legis 
lators  and  the  pacificators  of  the  world." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A  DOMESTIC  EPISODE.     THE  GOLDEN  WEDDING. 

When  a  man  has  fought  a  long  and  hard  battle — or 
rather  a  three  years'  campaign — with  the  prospect  of 
another  trial  of  strength  still  longer  and  harder — he 
may  be  excused  if  now  and  then  he  should  retire  from 
the  scene  of  action  to  enjoy  a  brief  interval  of  rest. 
Amid  all  the  contests  of  the  bar  Mr.  Field  never  forgot 
the  old  home,  nor  the  dear  Father  and  Mother,  whose 
gray  hairs  gave  them  an  added  beauty,  and  whose 
faces,  filled  with  a  sweet  serenity,  seemed  to  reflect  the 
peace  of  that  better  world  which  they  were  approaching.  *  r 

Not  that  there  had  been  anything  very  notable  in 
the  years  that  had  passed  beyond  the  ordinary  life  in  a 
country  parsonage.  In  the  earlier  days  of  New  England 
the  minister  did  not  migrate  from  church  to  church  so 
often  as  now.  Not  infrequently  a  young  man  was 
settled  over  a  parish,  and  there  remained  for  life,  while 
children  and  grandchildren  grew  up  around  him. 

Not  so  with  the  Stockbridge  pastor,  whose  experi 
ence  was  peculiar,  in  that,  while  he  had  but  two  par 
ishes,  he  had  one  of  them  twice  over,  swinging  as  it 


58  THE   SUMMIT   OF   LIFE   AT   SEVENTY. 

were,  like  a  pendulum,  between  the  old  and  the  new. 
The  people  of  Haddam,  who  in  1819  had  let  him  go, 
afterwards  got  into  a  divided  state,  which  it  seemed  as 
if  no  one  but  their  old  minister  could  heal,  and  called 
him  back  again ;  and  he,  the  good  man  that  he  was, 
who  always  thought  more  of  others  than  of  himself, 
accepted,  and  for  seven  years  preached  in  the  old  bar 
rack  as  before,  though  to  another  congregation,  for  the 
sons  had  come  in  the  place  of  the  fathers,  after  which 
the  long  and  straggling  parish  was  cut  in  twain,  and 
he  took  the  Northern  division  of  Higganum,  where  he 
preached  for  seven  years  more.  It  was  during  this 
period,  in  1848,  the  year  of  the  Revolutions  in  Europe, 
that  he  went  abroad  with  his  son  Stephen,  and  spent 
several  months  in  England  and  on  the  Continent. 

In  1851  he  completed  his  seventieth  year  ;  when  his 
children,  who  had  grown  to  manhood  and  womanhood, 
felt  that  he  had  served  his  generation  so  faithfully  that 
his  working  days  should  come  to  an  end  ;  and  asking 
the  privilege  of  providing  for  his  wants,  they  begged 
him  to  return  to  Stockbridge,  the  dearest  spot  on  earth, 
and  there  abide  till  the  going  down  of  the  sun.  This 
loving  request  could  not  be  refused,  and  so  he  made  his 
last  pilgrimage  across  the  mountains,  to  the  sweet  home 
in  which  he  was  to  spend  the  remnant  of  his  days. 

Here  it  was  that  the  autumn  of  1853  recalled  an 
anniversary  that  was  of  interest  to  us  all,  as  it  com 
pleted  fifty  years  since  our  father  and  mother  had  begun 


AN   UNITED   FAMILY.  59 

the  journey  of  life  together ;  and  now,  as  they  had  come 
back  to  the  old  home,  what  more  fitting  than  that  chil 
dren  and  grandchildren  should  gather  round  the  patri 
arch  and  his  faithful  companion  for  half  a  century,  and 
celebrate  their  Golden  Wedding  ! 

The  family  was  not  only  a  large  one,  but  a  very 
united  one :  both  from  affection,  and  from  the  necessity 
that  was  upon  them  to  help  one  another.  This  mutual 
helpfulness  comes  out  most  under  an  humble  roof. 
Love  flourishes  in  a  small  interior.  The  arena  is  not 
large  enough  for  combats.  It  is  the  great  and  princely 
halls  that  resound  with  fratricidal  war.  Where  parents 
and  children  sit  round  one  table,  or  one  fireplace,  the 
instinct  of  nature  draws  them  together.  If  for  once 
I  sketch  a  domestic  scene,  it  is  not  so  much  to  show  the 
beautiful  family  life  in  the  old  home,  as  to  throw  a 
strong  side-light  on  the  central  figure  which  it  is  my 
purpose  to  portray.  Thanks  to  our  dear  parents,  who 
never  had  an  idle  day  in  their  lives,  we  were  all  edu 
cated  to  the  habit  of  taking  care  of  ourselves,  and  then 
of  one  another.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  things,  the 
eldest  of  us  set  an  example  which  we  all  recognized 
with  grateful  affection:  and  never  did  the  heart  of 
the  son  and  the  brother  come  out  more  strongly  than 
at  this  family  reunion.  There  was  a  light  in  his  face, 
that  never  shone  so  brightly  as  on  this  happy  day. 

Every  man  has  two  lives:  the  outward  and  the 
inward;  which  may  exist  quite  apart,  even  if  they  be 


60  THE  "OTHER  MAN." 

not  contrary  one  to  the  other.  A  man's  public  life  is 
not  his  whole  life,  but  only  half  of  it,  and  perhaps  not 
the  more  interesting  or  attractive  half,  which  may  be 
hidden  out  of  sight  by  his  public  career.  It  is  a  deli 
cate  matter  to  draw  aside  the  veil  that  hides  that  inte 
rior  life,  but  in  the  case  of  a  strong  personality,  it  may 
be  necessary  in  order  to  understand  the  real  character 
of  the  man.  The  soldier  who  is  bravest  in  battle  may 
be  the  gentlest  when  he  returns  to  his  little  cottage 
under  the  hill;  and  he  who  is  by  his  very  profession 
placed  in  antagonism  to  other  men,  and  has  to  strike 
heavy  blows,  may  be  quite  another  man  when  he  returns 
to  the  relations  of  domestic  life.  It  is  this  "other  man" 
that  I  desire  to  disclose  to  those  who  thought  they  knew 
him,  but  are  just  beginning  to  find  out  his  true  charac 
ter  now  that  he  is  gone  to  the  grave. 

Few  men  in  our  great  commercial  city  were  better 
known  in  one  sense  and  less  known  in  another.  He 
lived  in  New  York  for  more  than  sixty  years :  no  figure 
was  more  familiar  to  the  public  eye ;  and  yet  no  man 
was  so  little  understood.  Of  those  who  knew  him  in 
professional  life,  probably  nine  out  of  ten  thought  him 
to  be  a  man  of  iron,  cold,  stern  and  severe,  all  of  which 
he  may  have  been  in  those  contests  of  the  bar  which 
were  a  part  of  his  daily  life.  But  at  the  same  time 
he  was  a  man  of  the  strongest  personal  attachments. 
True,  the  circle  of  those  whom  he  loved  was  not  large ; 
it  was  composed  chiefly  of  those  of  his  own  family. 


THE  GENEROUS  ELDER  BROTHER.         61 

But  the  narrower  the  circle,  the  more  concentrated  and 
intensified  was  the  affection.  Never  was  there,  or  could 
there  be,  a  more  generous  elder  brother,  one  more  anx 
ious  to  promote  the  interests  of  all  the  younger  members 
of  his  family.  He  had  seen  what  a  struggle  it  cost 
his  parents  to  give  him  a  college  education,  and  denied 
himself  every  needless  expense.  In  looking  over  his 
letters  from  College,  it  is  easy  to  see  with  what  reluc 
tance  he  writes  home  for  so  much  as  twenty  dollars, 
and  he  wished  that  the  other  children  should  not  require 
similar  sacrifices.  On  the  day  that  he  was  twenty-one, 
although  he  was  but  a  lawyer's  clerk,  he  wrote  to  his 
father  that  his  first  desire  was  to  lighten  the  burden 
that  rested  upon  him  by  helping  his  brothers  and  sisters 
to  get  an  education ;  and  the  very  first  money  that  he 
saved  from  his  meagre  income  he  sent  to  his  sister 
Emilia  (afterwards  Mrs.  Brewer),  then  at  a  school  for 
young  ladies  in  Hartford. 

Three  of  his  brothers  went  to  Williams  College,  all 
of  whom  were  indebted  to  him  for  assistance  to  carry 
them  through  ;  Jonathan  and  Stephen  studied  law  in 
his  office  in  New  York,  as  did  in  later  years  a  nephew 
whom  we  then  knew  as  "Young  David,"  but  who  is 
now  Mr.  Justice  Brewer,  sitting  beside  his  uncle  on  the 
bench  in  the  well  known  Court  Room  in  the  Capitol  in 
Washington.  It  was  because  he  could  be  under  the 
protection  of  his  older  brother,  that  Cyrus  was  allowed 
to  go  to  the  city  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  when  he  entered 


62  THE   GOLDEN   WEDDING. 

a  great  mercantile  house  as  an  errand  boy,  and  thus 
put  his  feet  on  the  first  round  of  the  ladder,  on  which 
he  was  to  climb  so  high.  Hence  in  the  place  of  honor 
in  the  family,  next  to  the  Father  and  Mother,  was  this 
elder  brother,  to  whom  we  all  owed  so  much. 

The  Golden  Wedding  was  on  the  last  day  of  Octo 
ber,  1853.  It  was  a  beautiful  day  in  the  most  beautiful 
season  of  the  year,  when 

"  The  woods  of  autumn  all  around  our  vale 
Had  put  their  glory  on." 

As  we  came  together  under  the  old  roof -tree,  our  first 
thoughts  were  of  the  absent  and  the  dead.  One  child 
had  died  in  infancy.  Another  had  been  lost  at  sea, 
though  not  till  he  had  given  promise  of  a  brilliant 
career.  This  was  the  second  son,  Timothy,  who  entered 
the  navy  as  a  midshipman,  and  of  whom  his  comrades 
spoke  as  the  life  of  the  ship  when  they  went  up  the 
Mediterranean,  and  as  foremost  in  pursuit  of  the  pirates 
who  infested  the  Greek  Archipelago.  Stephen  was  on 
the  Pacific  Coast.  He  had  returned  from  Europe  in 
1849,  when  the  country  was  wild  with  excitement  over 
the  discoveries  of  gold  in  California,  and  had  gone  to 
the  land  of  promise,  where  his  dreams  were  fulfilled  in 
his  notable  career  at  the  bar  and  in  the  Convention  to 
form  the  Constitution  of  the  State  ;  and  on  the  bench, 
where  he  was  Chief  Justice  when  called  by  Lincoln  to 
Washington.  California  was  not  then  so  near  to  the 


THE   BROTHERS   AND   SISTERS.  63 

East  as  now,  and  he  could  not  be  spared  for  a  voyage 
of  many  weeks  to  go  and  return.  Cyrus  too  had  gone 
to  South  America,  but  arrived  home  the  day  before  the 
Golden  Wedding.  Matthew  had  been  an  engineer  at 
the  South  before  the  war,  and  built  a  number  of  sus 
pension  bridges  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  one  of 
which  spanned  the  Cumberland  at  Nashville,  but  was 
destroyed  in  the  retreat  of  the  Confederate  Army  to 
prevent  its  being  crossed  by  the  army  of  General  Buell. 
At  that  time  he  had  returned  North  and  lived  in  South- 
wick,  his  wife's  home,  and  once  represented  Hampden 
County  in  the  Senate.  Jonathan  had  settled  down  in 
Stockbridge,  and  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  bar 
in  Western  Massachusetts.  So  popular  was  he  that, 
though  a  Democrat  in  politics,  he  was  elected  by  the 
Republicans  to  the  Senate  three  times  in  succession  ; 
and  each  time  chosen  to  be  its  President — an  honor 
never  before  conferred  on  any  member  of  that  body. 
With  these  brothers  we  had  our  two  sisters,  Emilia  and 
Mary.  The  latter,  as  the  youngest  of  the  group,  was 
the  pet  of  the  family,  and  yet  was  the  first  to  be  taken 
from  us  [only  three  years  later  in  Paris]  ;  and  because 
of  her  gentleness  and  that  she  died  so  young,  she  lives 
in  our  memories  as  the  sweetest  of  us  all. 

And  now  the  dear  old  couple  stood  up  side  by  side,  as 
they  had  stood  fifty  years  before,  to  receive  the  congrat 
ulations  of  their  children,  in  which  I  know  not  whether 
there  were  more  smiles  or  tears.  How  happy  we  all  were 


64  THE   THANKSGIVING   FEAST. 

on  that  wedding  day — a  day  that  could  never  return  ! 
Together  we  sat  round  the  long  table  that  had  been 
stretched  to  furnish  seats  for  some  forty  guests.  And 
then  we  gathered,  as  of  old,  for  morning  and  evening 
prayers,  when  the  Patriarch,  who  never  looked  so  beau 
tiful  as  with  that  crown  of  white  hair,  commended  us, 
with  a  voice  that  was  still  strong,  to  the  God  of  Abra 
ham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  praying  that  we  might  all  be 
the  ' '  children  of  the  Highest, "  ' '  sons  and  daughters 
of  the  Lord  Almighty."  Such  prayers  brought  their 
own  answer,  and  as  we  went  forth  from  the  door  of  the 
old  home,  we  felt  that  we  carried  a  blessing  with  us 
that  would  abide  through  all  the  coming  years,  till  we 
too  should  be  ' '  gathered  to  our  fathers. "  * 

If  any  apology  be  needed  for  the  introduction  of  this 
domestic  episode  into  a  narrative  that  has  to  do  with 
grave  matters  of  the  law,  I  answer  that  my  object  is  to 
tell  the  truth,  and  the  whole  truth,  of  a  remarkable  life 

*  It  was  not  long  before  our  ranks  were  broken.  Of  the 
group  that  stood  round  our  Father  and  Mother  on  that  day, 
every  one  of  my  generation,  except  myself,  has  gone  to  the 
grave.  Mary  died  in  1856;  the  dear  Mother  in  '61,  and  the  eld 
er  sister,  Emilia  (Mrs.  Brewer),  the  same  year;  Father  in  '67; 
Jonathan  in  '68,  and  Matthew  in  '70;  which  left  but  Four 
Brothers  to  represent  the  family  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury  ;  and  of  these,  two — Dudley  and  Cyrus — are  gone.  Stephen 
still  lives,  but  he  was  not  at  the  Golden  Wedding.  Soon  the 
generation  to  which  we  belong  will  have  passed  away,  but  only, 
as  we  hope  and  believe,  that  we  all  may  meet  on  a  happier  shore. 


THE    FATHER 


HHT 


THE    MOTHER 


flHHTOM    HUT 


AFFECTION   FOE   HIS   FAMILY.  65 

and  character.  It  is  not  enough  that  I  hear  men  speak 
of  him  as  the  honored  dead,  when  to  me  he  is  the 
beloved  dead.  I  wish  them  to  know  him  as  I  knew 
him ;  to  know  the  sweetness  of  his  nature,  as  well  as 
the  force  of  his  will ;  and  most  of  all,  of  the  affection 
that  he  bore  towards  those  who  were  of  the  same  father 
and  mother.  I  could  go  still  farther  and  tell  how 
intense  was  his  love  for  his  children,  and  for  the 
grandchildren  who  were  the  idols  of  his  heart.  But 
it  is  enough  to  speak  of  the  generation  to  which  I 
belong.  As  one  of  the  family,  I  can  testify  that,  next 
to  those  who  gave  us  being,  we  owe  what  we  are  to  one 
than  whom  there  was  never  a  more  dutiful  son,  or  a 
more  kind  and  thoughtful  brother. 

But  this  family  affection  is  often  but  a  form  of  fam 
ily  pride  or  ambition,  a  clannish  feeling,  that  makes 
one  stand  by  his  own  kin  against  the  world.  But  such 
an  interpretation  would  do  great  injustice  to  one  who 
was  not  only  a  lover  of  his  clan,  but  of  his  race.  I 
never  knew  a  man  who  was  more  quickly  touched  by 
sorrow.  How  often  have  I  heard  him,  as  he  came 
home  from  the  business  of  the  day,  tell  of  some  poor 
woman  who  had  come  to  him  with  a  pitiful  tale  of 
poverty  and  want,  whom  he  always  received  with  the 
utmost  kindness,  and  listened  patiently  to  her  story, 
too  happy  if  he  could  relieve  her  distress,  or  put  new 
courage  into  her  sad  heart.  Or  as  he  walked  home  in 
the  evening,  the  gaslight  flashed  in  the  face  of  a  poor 


66  SYMPATHY  FOR  THE   POOR. 

girl  on  the  street  corner,  who  was  trying  to  earn  her 
bread  by  selling  papers.  As  he  caught  sight  of  the  pale 
wan  face,  he  would  stop,  making  an  excuse  of  buying 
the  evening  papers,  to  say  a  few  words  that  might  cheer 
her  in  her  loneliness. 

This  tenderness  of  nature  showed  itself  even  in  his 
Codes,  where  he  always  leaned  to  mercy's  side.  Rigid 
as  were  his  ideas  of  absolute  equality  before  the  law, 
yet  he  thought  it  not  incompatible  with  justice  that  the 
law  should  extend  its  shield  most  over  those  who  needed 
it  most,  and  never  was  it  in  the  more  legitimate  exer 
cise  of  its  power  than  when  it  stretched  out  its  long  and 
mighty  arm  to  protect  the  poor  and  the  helpless,  the 
widow  and  the  child. 

One  more  picture  may  close  this  domestic  episode. 
Among  the  many  charities  that  have  sprung  up  in 
our  country,  none  is  more  beautiful  than  that  of  the 
Children's  Aid  Society,  which  takes  the  little  waifs  of 
our  cities,  and  transports  them  far  away  from  the  foul 
and  noisome  streets  to  the  green  fields  and  waving 
prairies  of  the  West,  where  they  can  breathe  the  pure 
air,  and  learn  the  ways  of  industry  and  virtue. 

Kindred  to  that,  though  of  more  recent  date,  is  the 
Fresh  Air  Fund,  which  takes  the  same  class  of  children 
to  the  country,  though  for  a  shorter  time,  only  for  a 
few  weeks,  that  they  may  romp  and  play,  and  fill  their 
little  mouths  with  good  things,  and  get  pure  air  in  their 
lungs  and  warm  blood  in  their  veins.  One  of  these 


ST.  HELEN'S  HOME.  67 

delightful  retreats  is  in  Curtisville,  a  part  of  Stock- 
bridge,  where  Mr.  John  E.  Parsons  of  New  York  has 
provided  what  he  calls  St.  Helen's  Home,  in  memory 
of  a  beloved  daughter.  Here  he  has  laid  out  some 
acres,  with  buildings,  clean  and  sweet,  where  in  the  sum 
mer  hundreds  are  let  loose,  and  run  about  the  grounds 
and  climb  the  trees  like  so  many  squirrels,  and  the 
passer-by  may  hear  their  laugh  and  glee,  as  a  score 
of  little  naked  legs  wade  into  the  clear  pebbled  stream 
that  rushes  under  the  bridge.  They  breathe  the  fresh 
air  all  day  long,  to  lie  down  at  night  in  clean  beds  and 
sleep  the  sleep  of  innocence  and  peace.  The  place  had 
a  fascination  for  Mr.  Field,  and  he  often  took  it  in  his 
afternoon  drive.  Sometimes  he  would  pile  a  dozen 
children  into  a  large  carriage  for  a  ride.  They  all 
knew  him  so  well  that  they  looked  for  his  coming.  As 
he  sat  on  the  veranda  the  tiny  little  creatures  would 
climb  up  on  his  knees  two  or  three  at  once.  I  can  see 
him  now  as  he  took  them  in  his  arms,  and  tossed  them 
into  the  air  in  a  grandf atherly  way  ;  while  the  ' '  good 
gray  head  "  caught  the  last  rays  of  the  sun  going  down 
in  the  West — fit  type  of  the  peaceful  ending  of  his  own 
long  day.  Never  was  there  a  more  beautiful  picture  of 
the  two  extremes  of  life  than  this  of  sportive  childhood 
in  the  lap  of  age,  which  no  stranger  could  look  upon 
without  feeling  that,  if  the  "grand  old  man"  had  been  a 
man  of  war  from  his  youth,  he  had  always  carried  under 
his  martial  cloak  a  warm,  tender  and  loving  heart. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CODIFICATION  OF  THE  COMMON  LAW. 

The  happiest  scenes  must  come  to  an  end  ;  meetings 
must  be  followed  by  partings  ;  and  so,  after  we  had 
gathered  in  the  old  home  under  the  elms,  and  paid  our 
tribute  to  those  to  whom  we  owed  everything,  and 
received  their  blessing  ;  we  had  to  come  back  to  the 
scenes  of  common  life,  and  take  up  again  the  work 
that  we  had  to  do  in  the  world.  And  here  I  resume 
the  thread  of  my  story. 

"A  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in  his  own 
country."  It  was  all  very  well  for  Mr.  Field  to  be 
cheered  to  the  echo  by  English  barristers  and  members 
of  Parliament ;  but  here  in  America,  where  the  practice 
of  the  law  was  in  a  process  of  revolution,  there  was 
quite  another  feeling.  There  were  many  lawyers  and 
judges  who  were  not  at  all  disposed  to  applaud  the 
Reformer ;  who  indeed  would  have  been  quite  content 
to  have  him  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  in  the  mother 
country,  and  practise  at  the  English  bar,  if  he  would 
only  let  his  own  country,  and  especially  his  own  pro 
fession,  alone.  They  were  perhaps  in  a  more  critical 


A   SET-BACK   TO   REFORM.  i 

mood  from  the  fact  that  a  fragmentary  Code  of  Proce 
dure  had  been  adopted  in  1848,  and  made  a  part  of  the 
law  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  they  were  trying 
to  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  conditions.  But  there 
they  wished  the  Reform  to  end.  An  Act  had  indeed 
been  passed  by  the  Legislature  appointing  a  Commis 
sion,  consisting  of  Chancellor  Walworth  and  two  other 
eminent  lawyers,  to  codify  the  whole  substantive  law. 
But  the  slowness  of  their  work  was  in  striking  contrast 
with  the  celerity  of  Mr.  Field's.  After  two  years'  med 
itation,  they  reported  only  a  small  fragment  of  law, 
which  they  did  not  recommend  for  adoption  ;  and  their 
final  report  was  in  substance  one  of  grave  doubt  as  to 
whether  the  work  assigned  to  them  could  or  ought  to 
be  done  at  all.  Not  unnaturally,  the  Legislature,  in 
April,  1850,  repealed  the  Act  itself  !  This  seemed  to  be 
a  fatal  blow.  To  resuscitate  the  Commission  would  be 
like  raising  the  dead,  and  this  was  not  an  age  of  mira 
cles.  In  fact  it  was  seven  years  before  the  miracle  was 
accomplished — years  that  were  to  Mr.  Field  like  the 
seven  years  that  Jacob  served  for  Rachel.  But,  like  the 
ancient  lover,  he  never  lost  heart  or  hope.  He  pleaded 
his  cause  in  a  series  of  Law  Reform  Tracts  on  ' '  The 
Administration  of  the  Code"  ;  "Evidence  as  to  its 
Operation,"  showing  that  it  had  worked  well ;  "A  Short 
Manual  of  Pleading  under  the  Code  " ;  and  a  discussion 
of  ' '  The  Competency  of  Parties  as  Witnesses  for  Them 
selves,"  in  support  of  which  he  drew  up  a  memorial  to 


70  WHAT   IS   THE   COMMON   LAW? 

the  Legislature  for  the  passage  of  a  law  to  admit  their 
testimony. 

But  all  this  was  only  preliminary  to  a  still  more 
sweeping  Reform,  which  he  proposed  in  another  Tract 
on  "The  Codification  of  the  Common  Law" — a  change 
that  would  be  almost  revolutionary,  and  which  can 
not  be  understood  without  a  brief  explanation  of  this 
"Common  Law"  which  had  not  only  ruled  England 
for  so  many  generations,  but  had  extended  its  rule  over 
the  greater  family  of  the  descendants  of  Englishmen  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

What  was  the  Common  Law  ?  I  am  but  a  layman, 
as  unfamiliar  with  the  mysteries  of  the  law  as  of  medi 
cine.  But  there  is  sometimes  an  advantage  in  looking 
at  a  structure  from  the  outside.  It  gives  the  spectator 
a  point  of  view  from  which  he  can  take  in  the  whole. 
Looking  on  therefore,  as  we  laymen  do,  from  a  rea 
sonable  distance,  what  are  we  to  understand  by  the 
Common  Law?  The  phrase  has  a  certain  majesty, 
as  if  it  were  in  Law  what  the  Common  Faith  is  in 
Religion,  a  symbol  of  that  which,  though  it  be  somewhat 
dim  and  distant,  is  still  too  sacred  to  be  lightly  spoken 
of.  Perchance  it  stands  as  a  synonym  for  universal 
justice,  and  is  called  common — not  because  it  is  in 
any  sense  low  or  commonplace,  but  because  it  is  for  all 
men.  If  that  were  indeed  its  significance,  it  would  be 
a  noble  title  for  a  noble  thing.  But  when  we  discover 
that  the  Common  Law  is  only  Common  Usage,  and  is 


HOW    THE    COMMON    LAW   IS    MADE.  71 

backed  by  no  great  legal  authority,  our  reverence  begins 
to  abate. 

Yet  such  is  the  Common  Law  of  England,  from  which 
our  own  is  taken.  It  is  not  a  compilation  of  the  laws 
of  the  realm,  of  acts  of  Parliament,  for  with  the  greater 
part  of  them  Parliament  had  nothing  to  do.  It  is  made 
up  for  the  most  part,  not  of  statutes,  but  of  precedents, 
of  the  decisions  of  judges,  of  whom  some  were  learned 
and  some  unlearned ;  some  wise  and  great ;  some  weak 
and  wicked.  Derived  from  England  as  it  has  been, 
nobody  has  spoken  of  it  so  contemptuously  as  English 
men  themselves.  "Do  you  know,"  said  the  great  Jer 
emy  Bentham,  " how  judges  make  the  Common  Law? 
Just  as  a  man  makes  laws  for  his  dog.  When  your 
dog  does  anything  you  want  to  break  him  of,  you  wait 
till  he  does  it,  and  then  beat  him  for  it.  And  this  is 
the  way  the  judges  make  law  for  you  and  me  ! "  To 
make  the  best  of  it,  we  cannot  help  seeing  that  it  is  a 
compound  of  good  and  bad ;  that  the  stream  of  time, 
which  has  brought  down  to  us  the  wisdom  of  the  past, 
has  also  swept  along  on  its  mighty  bosom  other  and 
meaner  things,  the  mere  drift  of  the  ages,  with  which 
the  present  generation  ought  not  to  be  burdened. 

"But  imperfect  as  it  is,  you  cannot  get  rid  of  it," 
was  the  cry ;  "  it  is  here,  and  here  to  stay  forever  ! " 
And  as  for  Codification,  that  was  impossible  !  As  well 
might  you  attempt  to  imprison  the  vast  and  wandering 
air,  or  set  bounds  to  the  waves  of  the  immeasurable  sea. 


72  "WALK  IN  THE  OLD  WAYS  !" 

Even  if  it  were  possible,  such  "  narrowing"  of  the  law 
into  a  small  compass  would  do  more  harm  than  good. 
Some  even  thought  its  vagueness  and  uncertainty  a 
good  feature,  as  it  made  it  more  "elastic,"  and  left 
more  scope  to  the  expansive  genius  of  Young  America  ! 
But  other  objections  were  less  fanciful.  When  we 
are  told  that  the  great  body  of  lawyers  and  judges  in 
the  State  of  New  York  were  opposed  to  it,  we  are  not 
to  infer  that  it  was  from  merely  frivolous  considera 
tions.  Least  of  all  would  we  impute  to  them  unworthy 
motives.  A  cause  quite  sufficient  to  explain  it  all  is 
found  in  the  simple  power  of  inertia,  that  weighs  upon 
us  all  like  the  power  of  gravitation.  There  is  in  every 
man  a  reluctance  to  change  old  habits  and  usages.  Nor 
is  this  a  bad  trait.  On  the  contrary,  it  may  be  all  that 
saves  us  from  mistakes  that  might  prove  our  ruin.  It 
may  be  our  only  protection  from  the  consequences  of 
our  own  rashness  and  folly.  Hence  it  is  that  we  are 
warned  in  holy  writ  to  "walk  in  the  old  ways."  Any 
departure  from  this  rule  must  first  show  that  the  new 
way  is  better  than  the  old.  This  Mr.  Field  endeavored 
to  prove  by  insisting  on  the  absolute  necessity  of  some 
relief  from  a  burden  that  had  grown  to  such  enormous 
proportions.  The  law  was  so  covered  up  by  the  deposits 
of  successive  generations,  that  it  lay  scattered  about  as 
if  among  dead  men's  bones,  so  that  one  might  almost  as 
well  seek  for  it  in  the  catacombs.  The  richer  it  was  in 
its  accumulations,  the  more  unwieldy  it  became.  The 


CODIFICATION    THE    ONLY    RELIEF.  73 

greater  the  number  of  precedents  to  be  quoted,  the 
greater  the  perplexity,  for  in  running  back  to  the  decis 
ions  of  the  courts  for  generations,  it  seemed  as  if  every 
possible  case  had  been  decided  in  every  possible  way.  So 
slowly  moved  the  wheels  of  justice,  that  in  some  cases 
a  man  could  hardly  hope  for  a  verdict  in  his  life- time. 
An  appeal  to  the  Court  of  Chancery,  for  example,  was 
almost  a  mockery,  as  an  English  judge  confessed,  when 
he  inquired  after  a  particular  case  and  was  told  that  it 
had  been  referred  to  that  Court,  at  which  he  asked  in 
a  melancholy  tone,  "Have  you  the  heart  to  send  a 
fellow-creature  there?"  This  was  a  paralysis  of  jus 
tice  from  too  much  law — a  result  that  is  not  an  infre 
quent  accompaniment  of  too  many  refinements  in  the 
statutes  or  in  the  modes  of  procedure. 

For  all  this  confusion  and  delay  there  must  be  some 
relief,  if  there  was  to  be  any  virtue  in  the  law  or  the 
tribunals  of  England  or  America.  And  this  could  only 
be  by  some  process  of  condensation  and  simplification, 
both  of  which  were  combined  in  ' '  Codification,"  whereby 
the  whole  of  the  Common  Law  could  be  framed  into 
distinct  Codes,  which  should  be  so  plain  and  simple  that 
they  could  be  read  and  "  understanded  of  the  people." 

Such  was  the  aim  of  Mr.  Field,  his  one  great  and 
overpowering  ambition.      It  was  not  to  be  a  breaker 
of  the  precious  traditions  of  the  past.     He  had  no  pur-  j 
pose  or  desire  to  destroy  the  Common  Law,  but  to  pre 
serve  it  and  exalt  it  by  cutting  off  its  excrescences, 


74  CODE   COMMISSION   REVIVED. 

and  by  translating  it  into  the  language  of  the  people, 
so  as  to  make  it  worthy,  not  only  of  the  free  States  of 
America,  but  of  all  English-speaking  peoples  on  the 
habitable  globe. 

But  the  stronger  the  argument  for  the  Code,  the 
more  violent  was  the  opposition.  It  was  a  case  of  an 
irresistible  force  striking  against  an  immovable  body. 
And  so  the  battle  raged,  with  constant  alternations  of 
advance  and  repulse.  In  1855  a  bill  was  introduced  into 
the  Legislature  to  reorganize  the  Code  Commission, 
making  him  one  of  the  Commissioners,  but  its  enemies 
were  alert  and  fought  it  at  every  step  and  defeated  it. 
The  chief  opposition  came  from  the  older  members  of 
the  bar,  who  seemed  to  have  a  power  in  the  Legis 
lature  to  obstruct  and  defeat  any  action  to  which  they 
were  opposed.  Nor  were  they  always  very  reserved 
in  boasting  of  their  power,  to  which  the  only  answer 
of  the  Reformer  was,  "All  things  come  to  him  who 
waits  !  "  He  did  not  have  to  wait  much  longer  before 
the  old  conservatism  gave  way.  In  1857,  on  the  6th 
of  April — a  day  that  was  to  be  forever  memorable  in 
the  history  of  Law  Reform — an  Act  which  he  had  him 
self  drawn  up  with  the  greatest  care,  was  passed  by 
the  Legislature,  that  a  new  Commission  be  appointed 
"to  reduce  into  a  written  and  systematic  Code  the 
whole  body  of  the  law  of  this  State,  or  so  much  and 
such  parts  thereof  as  shall  seem  to  them  practicable 
and  expedient,  excepting  always  such  portions  of  the 


THE   OPPORTUNITY   OF   HIS   LIFE.  75 

law  as  have  been  already  reported  upon  by  the  Com 
missioners  of  Practice  and  Pleadings,  or  are  embraced 
within  the  scope  of  their  reports." 

Very  simple  words  are  these  to  "lay  readers,"  who 
do  not  take  in  all  their  meaning.  But  to  the  legal 
mind  that  one  sentence,  ' '  to  reduce  into  a  written  and 
systematic  Code  the  tuhole  body  of  the  law,"  was 
the  foretokening  of  a  Revolution.  With  this  came  to 
Mr.  Field  the  opportunity  of  his  life.  From  the  time 
that  he  entered  on  the  practice  of  law,  he  had  been 
possessed  with  the  idea  of  Reform  :  it  had  been  his 
one  thought  by  day  and  his  dream  by  night.  A  part  of 
his  scheme  had  been  realized  in  the  Codes  of  Procedure, 
but  the  greater  task  of  reconstructing  and  codifying 
the  substance  of  the  Law  itself,  yet  remained.  It  was 
the  same  work  of  Reform — only  in  a  higher  and  broader 
sphere. 

The  nearer  he  came  to  the  task,  the  larger  it  grew, 
till  the  cloud  that  was  like  a  man's  hand  expanded  till 
it  covered  all  the  horizon.  No  bounds  could  be  put 
to  its  circumference.  "Law,"  says  Hooker,  "hasher 
seat  in  the  bosom  of  God,  and  her  voice  is  the  har 
mony  of  the  world  :  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth  do 
her  homage,  the  very  least  as  feeling  her  care,  and  the 
greatest  as  not  exempted  from  her  power."  But  even 
this  magnificent  sentence,  one  of  the  most  splendid  in 
the  English  language,  does  not  exhaust  the  extent  of 
its  illimitable  reign,  for  the  law  of  which  it  speaks  is 


76  LAW   NOT   MADE   BY   ARBITRARY   WILL. 

only  that  of  the  material  universe  :  but  in  law  that  is 
to  rule  and  govern  mankind,  there  must  be  more  than 
blind  force — more  than  power,  even  though  it  be  the 
power  of  God  ;  something  that  appeals  to  the  moral 
sense — to  reason  and  to  conscience. 

Even  the  law  of  God  himself  is  not  merely  the  edict 
of  Almighty  Power,  with  no  recognition  of  the  wants 
or  weaknesses  of  men.  That  would  make  Him  to  be 
like  Shiva  the  Destroyer  in  the  Hindoo  theology,  whose 
tremendous  power  rolled  over  men  like  the  Car  of 
Juggernaut,  crushing  all  that  came  in  its  way.  Not  so 
could  any  one  think  who  had  been  brought  up  in  a 
New  England  home,  where  from  a  child  he  had  been 
taught  that  the  Creator  of  mankind  is  the  Father  of  all. 

Nor  could  a  Divine  authority  be  claimed  for  any 
human  decrees.  There  was  no  sacredness  in  law  that 
was  simply  the  creation  of  arbitrary  will — of  King,  or 
Kaiser,  or  Czar — it  was  only  law  that  was  founded  in 
absolute  justice  that  partook  of  the  character  of  God 
himself,  and  had  somewhat  of  His  authority. 

Approaching  the  law  with  such  careful  steps,  it  took 
on  a  sacred  character,  as  if  it  were  a  part  of  religion, 
as  it  well  might  be,  if  it  were  conformed  to  the  high 
est  standard  of  rectitude.  The  work  of  the  legislator 
was  not  merely  to  apply  the  laws  of  nature  to  human 
conduct.  Nor  was  it  merely  the  recognition  of  a  blind 
force,  acting  in  one  fixed  and  unalterable  way,  like 
the  law  of  gravitation.  The  law  for  communities 


JUSTICE   THE   FOUNDATION  OP   LAW.  77 

and  States  was  for  moral  beings,  and  must  have  in  it 
a  moral  element — an  element  of  justice  so  clear  and 
plain  as  to  approve  itself  to  him  who  was  under  it,  so 
that  obedience  should  not  be  a  matter  of  compulsion, 
but  of  free  choice  and  will.     Justice,  in  the  eye  of  the 
Reformer,  was  the  rock,  the  corner-stone,  on  which  to 
build  the  structure  of  human  society.     I  never  knew  a 
man  who  had  a  stronger  sense  of  justice.     In  framing  a 
law  it  never  occurred  to  him  to  modify  it  in  the  interest  •. 
of  this  or  that  individual,  or  of  this  or  that  class.     The  j 
first  question  that  he  asked — and  the  only  question — 
was,  Is  it  right  ?     Is  it  just  ?     Of  course,  in  the  work 
of  codification,  it  was  not  his  business  to  make  the  law  ; 
but  in  recasting  thousands  of  statutes,  there  was  bound 
less  scope  for  improving  the  language  by  rejecting  all 
outlandish  phrases,  and  reducing  each  statute  to  its  sim-  ; 
plest  form  by  putting  it  in  plain  old  Saxon  words,  which  j 
were  most  familiar  to  the  common  ear,  and  most  suited  to 
"the  roundabout  common  sense "  of  the  common  people. 
With  these  two  conditions,  the  law  so  plain  that  every 
man  could  understand  it,  and  so  obviously  just  that 
all  should  approve  it,  it  would  be  a  moral  education 
of  the  people,  who,  in  learning  at  once  their  rights  and 
their  duties,  would  be  better  fitted  to  be  citizens  of  a  j 
great  and  free  Commonwealth. 

Such  was  the  task.  How  was  it  to  be  done  ? 
Though  Mr.  Field  was  at  the  head  of  the  Commission, 
the  work  was  not  left  to  him  alone,  for  it  was  too  enor- 


78 

mous  for  any  one  man  ;  associated  with  him  were  two 
of  the  most  eminent  members  of  the  bar,  Mr.  William 
Curtis  Noyes  and  Mr.  Alexander  W.  Bradford,  and  the 
three  were  to  divide  the  work  between  them.  They  were 
to  report  at  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature  a  general 
Analysis  of  the  projected  Codes,  as  preliminary  to  the 
larger  task  that  remained  in  the  future.  To  this  they 
gave  their  first  attention,  Mr.  Noyes  undertaking  to 
prepare  the  Analysis  for  the  Penal  Code,  and  Mr.  Field 
the  Analysis  for  the  Political  and  Civil  Codes. 

After  this  they  went  to  work  on  the  Codes  them 
selves,  reporting  at  every  session  of  the  Legislature  the 
progress  made  up  to  that  time.  As  fast  as  any  part  of 
the  Draft  was  prepared  it  was  to  be  distributed  among 
the  Judges  and  others  for  examination,  and  afterwards 
to  be  reexamined,  with  the  suggestions  made,  and  finally 
submitted  to  the  Legislature.  No  compensation  what 
ever  was  to  be  allowed  to  the  Commissioners. 

In  this  division  of  labor  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Field 
had  the  lion's  share  of  the  work  thrown  upon  him  in 
having  assigned  to  him  both  the  Civil  and  the  Political 
Codes.  Was  it  not  too  much  for  a  man  who  was  no 
longer  young  ?  It  was  a  -work  for  a  lifetime,  and  he 
was  already  fifty-two  years  old.  But  he  was  still  in 
the  full  vigor  of  his  splendid  manhood,  and  the  task 
itself  gave  him  a  fresh  inspiration.  Enthusiasm  took 
the  place  of  young  blood,  and  supplied  the  vital  force 
to  bear  the  tremendous  strain. 


THE   CORPS   OF  ASSISTANTS.  79 

Of  course  an  undertaking  so  vast  could  not  be  car 
ried  out  in  detail  by  any  one  man,  even  though  he 
should  give  to  it  the  undivided  labor  of  the  longest  life. 
In  his  choice  of  assistants  he  preferred  young  men  to  old 
men.  They  might  not  be  so  learned  in  the  law,  but  that 
was  in  one  view  of  it  a  qualification,  as  they  were  more 
free  from  the  paralyzing  influence  of  old  traditions  ; 
more  alert  in  mind  as  well  as  in  body  ;  more  quick 
to  receive  new  ideas  ;  and  last,  but  not  least,  had  more 
power  of  continued  labor.  It  was  no  light  task  to 
be  a  co-worker  with  Mr.  Field,  for  as  he  never  con 
fessed  fatigue  himself,  he  made  little  account  of  fatigue 
in  others.  So  long  as  he  was  in  command,  those  who 
followed  him  must  keep  up  with  his  tremendous  pace. 
And  yet  he  was  not  a  hard  master,  for  exacting  as  he 
was,  and  imperious  in  the  carrying  out  of  his  plans,  he 
appreciated  talent  in  others,  and  was  very  proud  when 
one  of  his  adjutants  showed  uncommon  ability.  For 
them  it  was  an  admirable  training  for  professional  life. 
In  the  preparation  of  the  Political  Code  his  assistant 
was  Mr.  Austin  Abbott,  for  whom  it  was  a  stepping 
stone  to  his  subsequent  distinguished  career.* 

With  a  lieutenant  so  energetic  the  work  did  not 
drag,  and  on  the  10th  of  March,  1859,  Mr.  Field  was 


*  The  recent  death  of  Mr.  Abbott  was  a  great  loss  to  the  bar 
of  New  York.  Had  he  lived,  it  was  hoped  that  he  would  fur 
nish  important  contributions  to  this  biography  of  one  under 
whom  he  had  served  for  several  years  in  the  preparation  of  the 


80  THE   CIVIL   CODE. 

f  able  to  send  out  the  first  Draft  of  the  Political  Code  to 
\  the  parties  to  whom  it  was  to  be  submitted,  by  whom  it 
was  carefully  examined,  and  returned  to  him  for  a  final 
revision,  which  took  another  year,  so  that  it  was  not  till 
thirteen  months  later,  April  10th,  I860,  that  he  was  able 
to  offer  this  Political  Code  complete.  At  the  same  time 
he  suggested  the  importance  of  a  "Book  of  Forms," 
which  was  provided  for  by  a  special  statute  directing 
the  Commissioners  to  prepare  it.  This  too  was  assigned 
to  Mr.  Field,  under  whose  supervision  it  was  prepared 
by  Mr.  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  three  Codes  :  first  a  Draft,  or,  as  in  this  case,  two 
successive  Drafts  were  circulated,  and  the  revised  work 
was  reported  to  the  Legislature  on  the  30th  of  March, 
1861. 

Then  came  the  greatest  labor  of  all  in  preparing  the 
:  Civil  Code,  in  which  Mr.  Field  had  the  invaluable  assist 
ance  of  Mr.  Shearman  and  of  Mr.  Austin  Abbott,  by 
whose  combined  labors,  under  his  constant  oversight, 
directing,  inspiring  and  pushing  on  the  great  work,  the 
first  Draft  of  the  Civil  Code  was  sent  out  on  April  5th, 
1862.  The  Draft  of  the  Penal  Code,  which  had  been 


Codes,  and  for  whom  he  had  the  greatest  admiration.  Of  all 
the  tributes  to  Mr.  Field,  none  was  more  discriminating,  or  car 
ried  more  weight,  than  that  of  one  who  was  not  only  in  the  front 
rank  of  practitioners  at  the  bar,  but  was  also  eminent  as  a 
Teacher  of  Law,  being  the  Dean  of  that  Department  in  the 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York. 


COMPLETION   OF   THE   CODES.  81 

assigned  to  Mr.  Noyes,  was  not  presented  till  two  years 
later.  It  had  been  prepared  with  the  assistance  of  Mr. 
B.  Y.  Abbott ,  and  was  then  read  over  at  meetings  of  all 
the  Commissioners,  and  amended  by  them. 

The  Political  and  Civil  Codes  were  left  entirely  to 
Mr.  Field,  except  that  Mr.  Bradford  prepared  a  first 
Draft  of  that  portion  of  the  latter  which  relates  to  the 
estates  of  deceased  persons.  After  eight  Reports  to  the 
Legislature,  the  Commission  submitted  their  Ninth  and 
last  Report  on  the  13th  of  February,  1865  (Mr.  Field's 
birthday,  on  which  he  completed  his  sixtieth  year),  lay 
ing  the  full  Penal  Code  upon  the  tables  of  the  members. 
The  Civil  Code  was  already  in  the  hands  of  the  printer, 
but  was  not  issued  until  the  autumn.  The  revision 
of  the  Civil  Code  involved  as  much  labor  as  its  original 
draft.  In  this  work,  in  addition  to  the  gentlemen 
already  mentioned,  Mr.  Charles  F.  Stone  rendered  some 
valuable  assistance  on  the  law  of  real  estate. 

These  law-reform  labors  of  Mr.  Field  occupied  a 
large  portion  of  his  time  for  eighteen  years,  during 
all  of  which,  except  the  first  two  years,  he  not  only 
received  no  compensation,  but  had  to  pay  the  expense  of 
his  assistants,  amounting  to  many  thousands  of  dollars. 

The  Codes  for  New  York  were  written  and  rewritten 
several  times  :  every  part  of  the  Civil  Code  at  least 
three  times  and  many  parts  eighteen  times  !  These 
Codes,  as  completed,  are  contained  in  five  octavo  vol 
umes.  Three  of  them — the  Civil  Code,  the  Penal  Code, 


82    THE  RECOGNIZED  AUTHOR  OF  THE  CODES. 

)  and  the  Political  Code — give  the  substantive  law.  Two 
of  them — the  Code  of  Civil  Procedure  and  the  Code  of 
Criminal  Procedure — prescribe  the  practice  of  the  courts, 
and  define  their  jurisdiction.  In  the  preparation  of  the 
Codes  of  Procedure,  Mr.  Field  was  associated  with 
Mr.  Loomis  and  Mr.  Graham ;  and  in  the  other  Codes 
with  Mr.  Noyes  and  Mr.  Bradford ;  all  of  whom  were 
able  and  distinguished  men  in  the  profession ;  but  they 
gave  to  it  far  less  time  than  he  did,  and  wrought  upon 
it  with  far  less  intensity.  Of  his  habits  of  working, 
in  the  early  morning  hours  and  late  at  night,  I  have 
spoken  elsewhere,  a  strain  that  was  kept  up,  not  for  a 
few  weeks  or  months,  but  for  eighteen  long  years. 
Thus  he  gave  to  it  more  time  than  all  the  others 
combined,  indeed  all  the  time  which  could  be  spared 
from  the  labors  of  an  engrossing  profession.  With 
him  it  was  the  passion  of  his  life — the  work  which 
he  was  the  first  to  propose,  and  was  the  most  deter 
mined  to  carry  through,  and  he  wrought  upon  it  with 
all  the  ardor  of  personal  ambition,  so  that  he  is  univer 
sally  recognized,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  the  chief 
author  of  the  Codes. 

In  a  letter  to  his  brother  Stephen — Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States — he  speaks  thus 
of  the  opposition  he  had  to  encounter  : 

"Now  that  my  work  is  finished,  as  I  look  back  upon 
it,  I  am  amazed  at  the  difficulties  I  had  to  overcome, 
and  the  little  encouragement  and  assistance  I  received. 


JUDGMENT    LEFT    TO    POSTERITY.  83 

It  seemed  as  if  every  step  I  took  was  to  be  impeded  by 
something  laid  across  my  path.  I  was  opposed  in 
everything.  My  life  was  a  continual  warfare.  Not 
only  was  every  obstacle  thrown  in  the  way  of  my  work, 
but  I  was  attacked  personally  as  an  agitator  and  a  vis 
ionary,  in  seeking  to  disturb  long  settled  usage,  and 
thinking  to  reform  the  law,  in  which  was  embodied  the 
wisdom  of  ages.  This  was  perhaps  to  be  expected  when 
I  undertook  such  radical  changes  in  the  face  of  the  most 
conservative  of  professions.  But  he  has  little  reason  to 
complain  of  the  number  or  violence  of  his  adversaries 
who  finds  himself  victorious  in  the  end.  As  to  any  real 
service  which  I  may  have  rendered  to  American  law, 
and  so  to  the  cause  of  universal  justice,  of  human  prog 
ress  and  civilization,  in  short,  .as  to  any  claim  I  may 
have  to  the  title  of  lawgiver  and  reformer,  I  am  willing 
to  be  judged  by  the  wise  and  good  after  I  have  passed 
away. 

* '  One  lesson,  which  I  might  perhaps  have  learned 
by  reading,  has  been  taught  me  by  experience,  and  that 
is,  that  he  who  attempts  reform  must  rely  upon  him 
self,  and  that  all  such  enterprises  have  received  their 
start  and  impetus  from  one,  or  at  most  a  very  few 
persons." 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

ADOPTION  OF  THE  CODES  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD. 

It  is  one  thing  to  frame  an  ideal  Code,  on  the  strict 
est  lines  of  justice,  and  quite  another  thing  to  have  it 
enacted  into  law  by  the  law-making  power.  I  once 
saw  a  Revolution,  that  taught  me  a  good  many  things, 
and  chief  of  all,  the  vanity  of  human  expectations. 
When  I  stood  in  front  of  the  Tuilleries  and  saw  the 
Royal  Palace  sacked  by  a  mob,  while  he  who  but  an 
hour  before  was  a  king,  was  fleeing  in  disguise  for  his 
life,  it  seemed  as  if  the  bottom  was  knocked  out  of 
everything  ;  that  there  was  nothing  on  earth  that  was 
secure  from  being  overturned  and  destroyed.  But  the 
next  lesson  was  not  less  a  surprise  :  it  was  the  marvel 
lous  genius  of  the  French  people  in  the  creation  of  a 
new  government.  It  was  not  many  days  before  Paris 
was  flooded  with  constitutions,  each  of  which  was 
believed  by  its  projector  to  be  almost  inspired,  and 
that,  if  adopted,  it  would  cure  all  the  evils  of  human 
society.  Few  of  them  were  ever  heard  of  again.  One 
or  two  were  tried  as  experiments,  but  soon  broke  down 


REFORMS   SUBJECT   TO   CRITICISM.  85 

for  want  of  some  needed  balance  in  the  political  machine ; 
till,  four  months  after  the  Revolution,  all  these  wild 
dreams  were  exploded  in  a  four  days'  battle  in  the 
streets  between  the  people  and  the  army  supporting  the 
government,  when  the  attempt  to  restore  the  golden 
age  was  finally  drowned  in  blood  ! 

Since  then  I  have  not  been  so  sanguine  of  seeing 
great  reforms  carried  by  coups  d'etat,  whether  by  rulers 
or  by  people.  The  march  of  mankind  is  slow,  and  it  is 
enough  for  any  generation  to  help  it  a  little  on  its  way. 
We  in  America  are  not  likely  to  see  such  a  tragic  end 
ing  of  our  schemes  for  the  improvement  of  human 
society.  Happily  for  us  our  reforms  do  not  imply  revo 
lutions.  But  for  all  that,  a  Reformer  is  a  man  who 
pulls  down  as  well  as  builds  up,  and  must  not  be  sur 
prised  if  he  meets  with  criticism,  for  the  mere  suggestion 
of  reform  is  a  reflection  upon  the  old  state  of  things 
as  needing  to  be  reformed — an  assumption  which  is 
resented  by  those  who  are  satisfied  with  things  as  they 
are.  The  old  ways  are  good  enough  for  them  :  and  it 
seems  to  be  almost  an  impertinence  when  a  man  comes 
along  who  thinks  that  he  is  wiser  than  his  generation  ; 
and  that  he  can  teach  them  a  better  way,  whether  it  be 
in  law,  in  politics,  or  in  religion.  The  Codifier  there 
fore  had  no  reason  to  complain  if  his  new  Codes,  how 
ever  skilfully  "framed  and  put  together,"  should  not 
be  at  once  accepted  by  the  public,  or  by  those  of  his 
own  profession,  who  were  content  with  the  old  tradi- 


86  ADOPTION   OF  THE   CODES   SLOW. 

tions  and  usages,  which,  if  not  ideally  perfect,  were 
practically  safe. 

On  his  part  he  faced  the  situation  squarely,  and 
found  no  fault  with  the  closest  scrutiny.  He  knew 
very  well  that  when  the  Legislature  of  New  York 
authorized  the  Commission  to  prepare  the  new  Codes, 
it  had  exhausted  its  power — that  its  action  could  not 
bind  any  future  Legislature  (which  might  not  be  chosen 
until  some  years  later)  to  adopt  the  Codes  so  prepared. 
When  they  appeared  they  must  stand  on  their  own 
merits,  and  thereby  be  justified  or  be  condemned.  As 
every  Legislature  was  made  up  largely  from  the  legal 
profession,  he  took  for  granted  that,  while  some  might 
be  in  favor  of  law  reform,  others  would  be  opposed 
to  it ;  and  perhaps  the  greater  number  be  simply 
indifferent,  looking  upon  it  as  merely  an  experiment. 
The  report  bound  no  one.  To  the  last  moment  the 
Legislature  held  the  power  in  its  own  hands  ;  and 
though  the  country  lawyers  were  quite  willing,  as  a 
matter  of  professional  curiosity,  that  Mr.  Field  and  his 
associates  should  amuse  themselves  with  their  beautiful 
Codes,  it  would  be  quite  another  thing  to  ask  the  whole 
bar  of  the  State  to  put  their  necks  under  the  yoke  ;  and 
when  it  came  to  that  point,  the  "Reformers"  might 
hear  from  the  back  districts  ! 

With  such  natural  repugnance  to  change,  it  was  not 
surprising  that  the  adoption  of  the  Codes  was  slow. 
Even  the  Codes  of  Procedure,  though  they  concerned 


OPPOSITION   IN   THE  LEGISLATURE.  87 

but  the  outward  forms  of  administration  of  justice, 
instead  of  the  substance  of  the  law,  met  with  opposi 
tion  both  within  and  without  the  Legislature.  Although 
they  had  been  submitted  complete  on  the  first  of  Jan 
uary,  1850,  they  had  to  wait  long  for  recognition,  and 
even  as  yet  are  only  adopted  in  part.  The  Code  of 
Civil  Procedure  was  once  passed  by  the  Assembly, 
but  defeated  in  the  Senate  ;  and  a  different  Code,  pre 
pared  by  M.  H.  Throop,  though  mainly  founded  upon 
Mr.  Field,  was  adopted  between  1876  and  1880.  The 
Code  of  Criminal  Procedure  was  not  adopted  until  1882. 
Thus  the  progress  of  reform  was  slow  :  it  was  only 
the  outer  walls  of  Conservatism  that  had  been  carried, 
the  fortress  itself  was  still  to  be  stormed  and  taken. 
The  revision  of  the  Codes  had  taken  the  Commissioners, 
with  all  their  assistants,  eight  years  of  the  hardest  labor. 
Not  only  had  they  been  outlined  with  the  utmost  care, 
but  every  chapter  and  article  had  been  revised  and 
re-revised,  till  some  portions  were  changed  no  less  than 
eighteen  times.  But  all  this  was  not  enough  to  insure 
its  adoption.  There  was  not  a  meeting  of  the  Legisla 
ture  that  Mr.  Field  had  not  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to 
Albany,  to  appear  before  the  Committee  of  the  Senate 
or  of  the  Assembly,  where  he  was  always  sure  to  meet 
the  determined  opposition  of  some  of  the  ablest  mem 
bers  of  the  Bar  in  the  State,  in  which  they  were  sup 
ported  by  a  large  number  of  the  legislators,  who,  from 
professional  instinct,  were  opposed  to  innovations  which 


88          DEFEAT   OF   CIVIL   AND   POLITICAL   CODES. 

would  oblige  them  to  re-learn,  at  least  to  some  extent, 
both  the  substance  and  the  practice  of  the  law. 

These  were  heavy  odds,  against  which  the  Reformer 
had  to  stand  almost  alone,  using  all  his  power  of  argu 
ment  and  of  persuasion,  with  only  partial  success.  The 
Penal  Code  was  indeed  enacted  in  1881,  and  has  been 
the  law  of  the  great  State  of  New  York  for  fifteen 
years  ;  but  the  Civil  and  the  Political  Codes  have  not 
been  adopted  to  this  day  !  The  Civil  Code,  which  he 
looked  upon  as  the  most  important  of  all,  has  passed 
one  of  the  houses,  the  Senate  or  the  Assembly,  again 
and  again  ;  twice  it  has  passed  both  by  large  majori 
ties  ;  but  failed  in  either  case  of  receiving  the  signature 
of  the  Governor,  who  shrank  from  the  responsibility 
of  putting  his  name  to  a  Reform  which  reconstructed 
-  the  very  substance  of  the  Law. 

These  repeated  defeats  were  of  course  a  sore  disap 
pointment  to  the  Reformer,  but  after  all  they  ought  not 
to  have  surprised  him.  In  any  great  movement  for 
reform,  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  natural  con 
servatism  of  old  institutions,  what  in  mechanics  would 
be  called  the  power  of  greatest  resistance.  It  could  not 
be  an  easy  thing  to  move  an  old  Commonwealth,  like 
New  York,  wedded  to  old  laws,  some  of  which  dated 
from  the  time  when  the  Dutch  held  Manhattan  Island. 

But  there  was  another  and  broader  field  in  the  new 
States  and  Territories,  where  the  ground  had  not  been 
preoccupied,  and  so  ' '  westward  the  star  "  of  reform,  as 


INTRODUCED    IN    STATES   AND    TERRITORIES.         89 

well  as  of  empire,  "took  its  way."  Whenever  a 
government  was  to  be  formed,  its  framers  saw  the 
advantage  it  would  be  to  begin  its  political  life  with 
the  very  best  methods  of  securing  justice.  While  some 
of  the  older  States,  like  Ohio  and  the  Carolinas,  adopted 
only  the  Code  of  Civil  Procedure,  sixteen  other  States 
and  Territories — Kentucky,  Indiana,  Missouri,  Arkan 
sas,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
Nevada,  Arizona,  Utah,  Idaho,  Wyoming,  Oregon, 
and  Washington — adopted  in  substance  both  the  Civil 
and  the  Criminal  Codes  of  Procedure  ;  and  to  outdo 
them  all,  California,  the  Queen  of  the  Pacific,  led  the 
way  in  adopting,  not  only  the  Codes  of  Civil  and  Crim 
inal  Procedure,  but  also  the  three  Codes,  Civil,  Penal, 
and  Political  ;  and  Dakota,  which  was  the  first  of  the 
States  or  Territories  to  adopt  the  Civil  Code,  has  in  due 
time  taken  all  the  rest,  a  fitting  crown  to  the  great 
State  of  the  Mid- Continent. 

And  not  Dakota  alone  !  Beyond  the  Dakotas  lies 
another  State  three  times  as  large  as  New  York,  a 
Highland  region,  with  valleys  between  the  mountain 
ranges,  rich  as  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  But  its  first 
occupants  were  of  the  lawless  character  that  often 
hang  on  the  border,  so  that  when  the  stalwart  sons 
of  the  West  marched  across  the  plains  with  their  rifles 
on  their  shoulders,  they  found  that  the  first  thing  was 
to  put  down  lawlessness  with  a  strong  hand,  after  which 
they  proceeded  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  great  Com- 


90        ADOPTED  IN  FULL  IN  MONTANA. 

monwealth  worthy  of  its  position  in  the  very  heart  of 
the  Continent.  In  this  no  man  was  more  conspicuous 
than  Colonel  Sanders,  who  was  the  first  to  represent 
Montana  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  But  that 
he  owed  anything — or  that  Montana  owed  anything — 
to  the  Reform  in  New  York,  was  first  disclosed  in  the 
following  letter  : 

HELENA,  Montana,  January  24th,  1896. 

My  dear  Dr.  Field :  I  learn  that  you  are  to  write  a  biography 
of  your  eldest  brother,  Mr.  David  Dudley  Field,  and  I  am  very 
much  pleased  to  know  that  so  active  and  useful  a  life  is  to  be 
described  by  so  faithful  and  entertaining  an  author.  The  State 
of  Montana  will  feel  a  personal  interest  in  this  book  of  yours,  as 
to  his  labors,  more  than  to  those  of  any  other  man,  is  she 
indebted  for  the  very  excellent  system  of  statutory  law  now 
in  force  within  her  limits. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  know  him  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  his  lively  interest  in  the  codification  of  our  laws  not  only 
intensified  my  own  interest  in  it,  but  gave  to  it  an  intelligent 
direction.  For  a  considerable  period  we  sought  to  secure  legis 
lative  action  here,  and  your  brother,  although  he  lived  remote 
from  Montana,  and  was  always  busied  with  very  large  affairs, 
was  never  so  busy  but  that  he  took  a  lively  interest  in  our  prog 
ress,  and  by  his  advice  assisted  us  in  the  consummation  of  this 
great  legislation.  Although  advanced  in  years,  he  surprised 
me  by  his  earnestness  and  activity  in  this  matter,  and  compre 
hended,  and  seemed  to  carry  in  his  mind,  the  smallest  details 
which  appertained  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  work.  Enter 
taining  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  beneficence  of  codification,  it 
was  my  good  fortune  during  the  last  years  of  his  life  to  meet 
him  frequently,  and  to  receive  from  him  information  and  sug- 


LETTER  OF  SENATOR  SANDERS.         91 

gestions,  which  he  frequently  gave  also  by  letter,  not  only  to 
myself,  but  to  members  of  the  Commission  who  had  this  codifi 
cation  in  charge.  During  these  years,  while  the  work  pro 
gressed,  and  while  we  were  waiting  the  passage  of  the  enact 
ment,  his  lively  interest  in  it  and  assistance  induced  me  to 
resolve  to  furnish  him  a  copy  of  the  statute  as  it  should  be 
finally  passed  ;  but  the  inevitable  end  came  to  him  before  that 
event. 

And  so  I  turn  to  you  with  some  expression  of  the  thanks 
which  the  people  of  Montana  feel,  and  which  I  certainly  feel, 
for  the  labor  which  he  performed,  and  of  which  we  have  been 
able  to  avail  ourselves  in  the  passage  of  a  system  of  law  which, 
for  comprehensiveness,  coherence  and  perspicuity,  stands  without 
a  parallel  in  the  history  of  legislation.*  If  our  local  needs 


*  To  an  inquiry  whether  this  included  all  the  Codes,  the 
writer  replies  in  a  second  letter  that  the  legislation  came  to 
Montana  by  the  way  of  California,  which  had  adopted  it  from 
New  York,  and  that,  though  there  were  some  slight  changes  in 
the  transmission,  they  do  not  affect  the  substantial  fact  that  the 
laws  which  rule  Montana  to-day  are  the  work  of  Mr.  Field,  to 
whom  he  gives  the  honor,  and  to  him  alone.  I  quote  his  very 
words  :  ' '  There  were  thrust  into  the  Codes,  as  passed  in  Cali 
fornia,  certain  pre-existing  statutes  of  this  State  pertaining  to 
the  same  subject  matter,  and  local  as  to  our  conditions  and 
needs  ;  but  we  have  the  Political  Code  of  your  brother,  the  Civil 
Code,  the  Code  of  Civil  Procedure,  the  Code  of  Criminal  Proce 
dure,  and  the  Penal  Code.  These  last  two,  however,  are  con 
solidated,  and  are  known  in  our  statutes  as  the  Penal  Code,  and 
pertain  to  crimes,  and  the  methods  of  their  punishment.  In  a 
few  instances,  possibly,  our  code  commission,  instead  of  taking 
the  statutes  from  California,  may  have  preferred  a  substantial 
form  of  the  same  statutes  taken  from  Colorado,  South  Dakota, 


92  TRIBUTE   TO   MR.    FIELD. 

and  infirmities  have  thrust  into  his  codification  some  legislation 
not  projected  on  the  high  plane  of  his  code,  it  is  our  fault,  not 
his  ;  and  it  does  not  impair  the  great  task  which  he  performed, 
not  only  for  Montana,  but  for  all  other  States  availing  them 
selves  of  his  noble  work.  At  a  period  of  life  when  other 
men  would  have  considered  their  labors  to  be  over,  he  was  as 
keenly  alive  to  the  adoption  of  these  laws  by  the  various  States 
as  any  person  I  have  ever  known. 

He  was  not  acquainted  in  Montana,  nor  do  I  know  that 
he  ever  visited  this  State,  but  he  took  as  lively  an  interest  in 
improving  its  legislation  as  if  he  had  founded  it,  and  was  wholly 
identified  with  its  history.  Having  edited  these  statutes  and 
published  them,  it  seemed  to  me  appropriate  that  some  recogni 
tion  of  his  services  in  behalf  of  improved  legislation  and  codifi 
cation  should  be  had  ;  and,  in  the  preface,  I  took  occasion  to 


or  some  other  State  ;  but  these  instances  are  very  few,  and  I 
consider  the  Montana  codes  substantially  the  legislation  prepared 
by  your  brother.  Departures  from  the  form  as  prepared  by  him 
are  so  insignificant  that  in  generalizing  upon  the  laws  they  need 
not  be  referred  to." 

To  this  it  should  be  added  that  so  thorough  and  complete  has 
been  the  process  of  "boiling  down"  the  myriads  of  enactments 
and  of  precedents  scattered  through  libraries  in  England  as  well 
as  in  America,  that  the  several  Codes  of  Law,  Civil,  Penal  and 
Political,  with  the  Codes  of  Procedure,  are  all  compressed  into 
a  single  volume  much  smaller  than  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the 
United  States  ;  so  that  a  citizen  of  Montana,  who  has  but  little 
money  to  spend  on  books,  needs  to  have  lying  on  his  table  but 
three  :  an  English  Dictionary  to  teach  the  knowledge  of  his  own 
mother  tongue  ;  this  Book  of  the  Law,  to  show  him  his  rights  as 
a  member  of  civilized  society  ;  and  the  good  old  Family  Bible 
to  teach  him  his  duties  to  God  and  to  man. 


CODIFICATION   THE   BOON   OF    THE   POOR.  93 

mention  his  name,  regretting  only  that  the  opportunity  was  not 
afforded  me  to  say  more.  If  the  courts  whose  quandaries  he 
has  settled  ;  the  lawyers  whose  doubts  he  has  resolved  ;  and  the 
citizens  whose  legal  rights  in  simple  and  concise  words  he  has 
defined  ;  could  speak  in  your  volume,  his  name  and  memory 
would  certainly  be  blessed.  His  was  a  great  life  to  look  back 
upon,  and  I  doubt  not  your  volume,  which  I  bespeak,  will  set  it 
forth  in  alluring  sentences  with  such  detail  and  generalization 
as  shall  make  it  coveted  by  all  intelligent  young  men  of  our 
country. 

The  profession  to  which  I  belong  will  appreciate,  but  cannot 
exaggerate,  the  great  services  rendered  by  your  brother,  not 
merely  to  it  and  the  courts,  but  to  the  humblest  citizen  of  the 
land,  in  simplifying  the  law  and  bringing  it  home  to  their 
hearthstones.  Indeed  codification  is  peculiarly  the  boon  and 
benediction  of  the  poor,  and  it  furnishes  some  facilities  whereby 
the  ignorant  may  become  wise. 

His  services  in  endeavoring  to  secure  the  settlement  of  all 
international  differences  by  arbitration  bespoke  a  noble  nature, 
humane  in  purpose  and  enlightened  in  comprehension  ;  and  in 
these  days,  when  careless  speech  seems  fraught  with  so  much 
peril,  and  the  spirit  of  frivolity  pervades  so  many  high  places, 
his  words  of  truth  and  soberness,  born  of  sanity  and  prudence, 
raise  him  in  the  esteem  of  philanthropists  throughout  the  world. 
It  was  my  fortune  to  know  something  of  him  personally,  and 
these  great  services  which  he  rendered  to  mankind  in  no  way 
oppressed  him.  He  rose  superior  to  the  weariness  of  the  daily 
toil,  and  was  as  cheerful  and  active  in  social  life  as  any  person 
I  ever  knew.  With  my  wife  I  recall  a  journey  with  him  down 
the  Hudson  River  one  summer  day,  a  stream  with  which  I  nat 
tered  myself  I  was  somewhat  familiar,  not  merely  from  personal 
observation  of  it,  but  from  the  works  of  Irving  and  Lossing  and 
Bryant,  and  others  who  had  exhausted  their  genius  in  painting 


94  THE   VICTORIES   OF  PEACE. 

its  beauties  and  describing  its  history  ;  but  your  brother  pointed 
out  new  places  of  interest  along  that  historic  stream,  and  related 
the  events  which  have  made  it  immortal,  until  from  Albany  to 
Manhattan  Island  it  was  all  aglow  with  history  and  romance. 

The  dullness  of  appreciation  of  the  legislative  improvements 
with  which  he  was  identified,  I  cannot  wholly  comprehend,  but 
I  am  satisfied  that  the  States  which  have  availed  themselves  of 
his  services  count  these  enactments  as  among  their  most  pre 
cious  possessions.  To  fitly  describe  such  a  life  as  he  led  is  an 
inspiring  task,  and  I  do  not  doubt  but  that  affection  and  duty 
will  lift  you  to  the  occasion,  and  give  us  a  biography  not  only 
worthy  of  his  own  renown,  but  also  worthy  of  your  own  pen. 
Such  men  never  die. 

I  trust  confidently  your  book  will  occupy  a  shelf  along  with 
the  biographies  of  Sumner  and  Garrison  and  the  autobiography 
of  Mr.  Sherman,  an  example  and  inspiration  to  the  youth  of  the 
land,  who  may  learn  therefrom  the  rewards  of  courageous,  intel 
ligent  and  patient  toil.  To  those  of  us  who  knew  him  and  can 
bear  witness  to  his  great  service  for  mankind  through  so  many 
years,  it  will  seem  fitting  justice  that  his  name  be  handed  down 
by  dutiful  affection  to  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  future 

ages.  Very  truly  yours, 

W.  F.  SANDERS. 

These  are  the  victories  of  peace,  which  are  indeed 
no  less  renowned  than  the  victories  of  war.  As  a  mes 
senger  of  peace  Law  is  next  to  Religion,  and  most  of 
all  laws  adopted  by  the  people  themselves  from  a  sense 
of  justice,  and  for  their  own  protection.  No  army 
crossing  the  Continent  could  carry  in  its  mailed  hand 
such  a  pledge  of  peace  to  future  generations. 

Nor  was  the  effect  of  this  legal  reform  limited  to  our 


LAW   REFORM   IN   ENGLAND.  95 

own  country  :  the  movement  was  soon  felt  by  our  kins 
men  across  the  sea.  As  we  had  derived  our  laws  from 
England,  she  was  equally  interested  with  us  in  any 
improvement  in  that  which  was  our  common  heritage. 
This  need  was  felt  by  her  greatest  statesmen.  In  the 
year  18G7  I  was  in  London,  and  saw  a  good  deal  of 
John  Bright,  who  was  full  of  congratulations  on  the 
issue  of  our  civil  war,  which  gave  him  unbounded  hope 
not  only  for  our  country,  but  for  the  reaction  upon  his 
own.  He  thought  it  would  be  no  harm  to  England  to 
learn  a  lesson  from  America.  Among  other  things,  he 
said  very  earnestly  :  "I  wish  we  had  a  man  in  England 
to  do  for  us  in  the  way  of  the  reform  of  the  law  what 
your  brother  has  done  for  America  !  "  But  where  to  find 
the  man  was  the  difficulty.  So  far  as  he  knew  the  man 
did  not  exist.  But  there  were  some  of  his  countrymen 
who  were  not  above  profiting  by  our  example.  What 
America  had  done  England  could  do.  The  interest 
thus  excited  led  to  the  appointment  of  a  Parliamentary 
Committee,  and  a  Crown  Commission,  to  consider  the 
whole  subject  of  Law  Reform  ;  and  twice  when  in 
England— in  1851  and  in  18G7— Mr.  Field  was  invited 
to  meet  with  them,  and  explain  the  methods  and  extent 
of  codification  in  New  York.  On  the  latter  occasion 
there  were  present  the  most  eminent  legal  authorities  of 
the  Kingdom,  including  five  Lord  Chancellors — Lord 
Westbury  and  Lord  Cran worth ;  Sir  Page  Wood,  after 
wards  Lord  Hatherley  ;  Sir  Hugh  Cairns,  afterwards 


96  ADOPTED   IX   THE   ENGLISH   COLONIES. 

Lord  Cairns ;  and  Sir  Roundell  Palmer,  afterwards  Lord 
Selborne.  They  sat  to  a  late  hour  of  the  night,  and 
when  they  rose  Lord  Hatherley  took  their  visitor  by  the 
hand  and  said,  "Mr.  Field,  the  State  of  New  York 
ought  to  build  you  a  monument  of  gold  !  " 

It  was  not  long  before  the  American  Codes  of  Pro 
cedure  were  adopted  in  substance  in  Great  Britain  and 
the  Colonies.  A  few  years  later  (in  1874)  Mr.  Field 
went  round  the  world,  and  found  to  his  surprise  his  sys 
tem  of  practice  in  use  in  the  courts  in  India  !  He  could 
hardly  believe  his  eyes  when  he  was  confronted  by  the 
rules  that  he  had  prescribed,  word  for  word  as  he  had 
written  them  in  his  library  in  New  York  ;  and  saw 

; justice  administered  according  to  them  in  those  far-off 
3nds  of  the  earth,  Singapore  and  Hong  Kong  ! 

This  was  not  ' '  the  drum  beat,  which,  following  the 
sun,  and  keeping  company  with  the  hours,  encircles  the 
globe  with  the  martial  airs  of  England,"  but  it  was 
something  better  than  the  sound  of  war — the  whisper 
of  peace,  soft  as  the  murmurs  of  the  sea,  yet  touching 
'/every  shore — peace  founded  upon  justice  to  subject 
races — the  Hindoo,  the  Malay,  and  the  Chinaman — 
whose  rights  are  not  only  guaranteed  by  England,  but 
may  we  not  add  (this,  I  am  sure,  will  not  offend  the 
majesty  of  England)  still  further  guarded  and  protected 
by  some  wise  provisions,  that  have  been  adopted  from 
American  law. 


! 


CHAPTER  IX. 


"  THE   COMMANDING   FIGURE   AT    THE   BAR." 


A  man  may  frame  the  laws  of  a  country,  and  never 
practice  in  the  courts.  The  two  things  are  distinct,  and_ 
yet  they  may  be  united.  Mr.  Field  was  a  lawyer  be-  ' 
fore  he  became  a  reformer,  and  one  grew  out  of  the 
other.  It  was  in  the  daily  practice  of  the  law,  that  he 
saw  its  defects,  and  the  need — even  the  necessity — of  its 
being  cleared  of  all  drift  wood,  and  being  brought  into  \ 
a  compact  and  orderly  form.  But  who  would  begin  a 
contest  that  would  continue  for  a  great  part  of  his  life ; 
and  in  which  he  might  sacrifice  himself  for  the  public 
good  ?  As  there  was  no  one  else  who  had  the  boldness 
— some  would  call  it  the  rashness — to  undertake  it,  he 
was  forced  to  the  front.  Even  then  his  life  might  have 
been  made  easy  if  he  had  abandoned  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  when  he  might  have  shut  himself  up  in  his 
library,  and  devoted  his  days  and  nights  to  the  study  of 
all  the  Codes  from  Justinian  to  Napoleon,  from  which 
to  construct  a  more  perfect  body  of  law  for  his  country. 
But  to  continue  at  the  bar,  he  would  be  brought  into 
daily  contact  and  antagonism  with  those  who  were  bit- 


98  IN   THE   COURT   ROOM. 

terly  opposed  to  his  reform.  Yet,  disagreeable  as  it 
might  be,  it  had  its  advantages,  as  this  constant  alterna 
tion  kept  him  in  touch  with  the  practice  in  the  courts, 
so  that  he  saw  at  once  its  excellences  and  its  defects — a 
knowledge  that  was  indispensable  to  any  system  of 
reform.  Here  were  two  lives — the  life  of  the  ideal  and 

— -— -* 

the  life  of  hard  reality — going  on  at  the  same  time  side 
by  side,  yet  when  it  came  to  writing  the  story,  it  was 
necessary  to  separate  them,  and  treat  of  each  apart  in 
order  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  subject,  and  having  struck 
upon  the  trail  of  Reform,  it  seemed  better  to  follow  it 
to  the  end,  even  though  it  should  be  anticipating  in  the 
order  of  time,  after  which  we  could  resume  the  course 
of  the  professional  career. 

The  first  part  being  closed,  we  now  change  the  scene 
from  the  stillness  of  the  library  to  the  excitement  of 
public  halls.  There  is  nothing  in  our  American  life — 
not  even  a  popular  election,  or  the  meeting  of  Congress 
—that  stirs  the  blood  more  than  a  trial,  on  the  issue  of 
which  may  depend  men's  fortunes,  or  even  their  lives. 
Then  the  court  room  becomes  an  arena  of  combat, 
where  lawyers  are  the  gladiators,  with  judges  and 
juries  for  spectators,  and  a  crowd  filling  every  niche 
and  corner,  hanging  on  the  words  of  the  speakers,  and 
waiting,  it  may  be  in  breathless  anxiety,  for  the  issue. 
In  such  an  arena  the  subject  of  our  story  takes  his  place. 
How  did  he  bear  himself  with  the  leaders  of  his  day  ? 
and  what  will  be  his  fame  with  posterity  ? 


GREAT  LAWYERS  OF  THE  PAST.          99 

No  man  can  speak  for  posterity,  but  one  who  was 
familiar  with  all  his  contemporaries,  the  late  Mr.  Austin 
Abbott,  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  of  Mr.  Field  as  ' '  the 
most  commanding  figure  at  the  American  bar  !  "  This 
may  be  taken  as  the  impulsive  utterance  of  a  generous 
friend,  whose  sense  of  loss  was  quickened  by  the  sudden 
death  of  the  object  of  his  admiration.  The  bar  of  New 
York  counts  many  illustrious  names  from  the  days 
of  Alexander  Hamilton,  whose  leadership  no  man  would 
dispute,  unless  it  were  his  rival,  Aaron  Burr.  After 
him  came  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  who  was  living  when 
the  young  student  of  law  first  came  to  New  York.  I 
remember  well  the  picture  he  gave  me  of  that  truly 
great  man,  around  whom  there  lingered  the  sad  memo 
ries  of  all  that  he  had  done  and  suffered  for  ' '  his  own 
loved  island  of  sorrow."  Judge  Story  has  described  a 
scene  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  when 
Emmet  was  pitted  against  Pinckney,  of  Baltimore,  a 
combat  of  giants,  which  left  on  the  judges  and  specta 
tors  the  highest  estimate  of  the  abilities  of  both.  A 
few  years  later  stood  at  the  bar  of  that  high  court 
Daniel  Webster,  for  whom  the  admiration  of  the 
American  people  amounted  almost  to  awe.  But  he  too 
belongs  to  a  former  generation. 

After  these  "three  mighties,"  it  would  be  presuming 
to  speak  of  any  one  of  half  a  dozen  great  lawyers  of  our 
time  as  above  all  others.  They  are  too  near  us  to  be 
rightly  judged.  There  are  many  stars  in  our  American 


100         CHARLES  O'CONOR  AND  WILLIAM  C.  NOYES. 

firmament,  and  it  is  only  when  they  have  receded  into 
the  distance  that  future  astronomers  will  determine 
which  was  the  star  of  greatest  magnitude.  The  writer 
would  think  it  a  very  poor  tribute  to  one  whom  he 
holds  in  reverent  as  well  as  loving  memory,  if  he  were 
to  exalt  him  by  depreciating  others.  So  far  is  he  from 
this  that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  recognize  those  who  upheld 
the  name  and  fame  of  the  bar  of  New  York.  To  old 
citizens  whose  memories  carry  them  back  as  far  as 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  it  may  seem  as  if  his  greatness 
were  equalled,  if  not  surpassed,  by  one  whose  father 
emigrated  from  Ireland  just  before  his  birth,  the  late 
Mr.  Charles  O'Conor.  Mr.  William  Curtis  Noyes  also 
stood  in  the  front  rank  of  his  profession.  But  he  died 
in  1864 — thirty  years  before  Mr.  Field,  who  had  the 
mournful  duty  of  pronouncing  his  eulogy.  Had  he 
lived  to  as  great  an  age,  he  might  have  had  as  great  a 
reputation  at  home  and  abroad. 

Of  this  small  group  of  leaders  of  the  bar  only  one 
remains,  Mr.  William  M.  Evarts,  who  has  had  a  long 
life  of  distinction  both  in  his  profession  and  in  the  ser 
vice  of  his  country,  as  United  States  Senator  and  Sec 
retary  of  State.  In  legal  contests  he  and  Mr.  Field 
were  often  pitted  against  each  other.  One  such  I 
remember,  in  which  the  famous  Thurlow  Weed  was 
prosecuted  for  libel  upon  Mr.  Opdyke,  the  Mayor  of 
New  York,  growing  out  of  some  transactions  in  the 


WILLIAM   M.    EVARTS.  101 

war.*  It  was  a  study  to  watch  the  two  combatants. 
No  men  could  be  more  unlike.  Mr.  Field,  like  a  pow 
erful  athlete,  went  straight  to  the  mark.  No  flights  of 
fancy  turned  him  aside  from  the  object  he  had  in  view. 
To  this  Mr.  Evarts  was  a  perfect  contrast.  Though  of 
slender  figure,  he  had  an  alertness  of  mind,  a  quickness 
of  perception,  that  made  him  a  very  dangerous  antag 
onist.  He  was  famous  for  his  long  sentences,!  that 
stretched  on  and  on  till  sometimes  the  meaning  seemed 
to  be  "in  wandering  mazes  lost."  And  yet  it  was 
delightful  to  hear  him,  (even  though  the  current  of  his 
thoughts  was  like  that  of  a  beautiful  river  winding 
hither  and  thither,)  and  listeners  sat  breathless  to  catch 
the  last  word.  Such  was  the  great  advocate  and 
lawyer  who  is  with  us  still.  Long  may  he  be  spared 
in  the  city  of  which  he  has  been  a  resident  for  half  a 
century,  and  in  which  he  is  looked  up  to  with  universal 
respect  and  veneration,  for  his  own  great  qualities,  and 
as  one  of  a  small  group  of  ' '  commanding  figures  at  the 
bar,"  of  whom  he  is  the  last  survivor. 

It  is  therefore  without  raising  any  question  of  pre 
eminence,  that  the  biographer  gives  the  outline  of  another 
figure  that  could  not  but  attract  attention  at  any  bar  or 


*  I  saw  them  again  pitted  against  each  other  in  the  arguments 
before  the  Electoral  Commission  in  Washington. 

t  When  he  was  criticized  for  this,  he  answered  with  his  pleas 
ant  humor  that  ''he  did  not  know  that  anybody  had  reason  to 
complain  of  long  sentences  except  the  criminal  classes." 


102  KNOWLEDGE   OF   THE   LAW. 

in  any  public  assembly,  at  home  or  abroad,  in  Congress 
or  in  Parliament,  the  figure  of  one  whose  very  presence 
was  "commanding,"  and  served  at  least  as  a  favorable 
introduction,  when  he  rose  to  address  any  body  to  which 
he  was  a  stranger. 

As  to  the  standing  of  a  lawyer,  how  he  "  ranks,"  (if 
we  may  use  a  military  word,)  that  probably  depends,  at 
least  among  his  professional  brethren,  quite  as  much  on 
his  knowledge  of  the  law  given  to  his  client,  it  may  be 
in  the  privacy  of  his  office,  or  in  a  brief  statement  before 
the  court  in  which  there  is  no  attempt  at  eloquence,  as 
in  his  most  labored  efforts  at  the  bar.  In  this  knowl 
edge  of  the  law  even  those  who  differed  most  from  Mr. 
Field  would  hardly  claim  that  he  had  any  superior. 
All  who  call  themselves  lawyers  are  supposed  to  under 
stand  its  general  principles.  But  few  men  kept  up  the 
study  as  he  did  from  the  very  necessity  that  was  upon 
him  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  law,  which  compelled 
him  to  be  familiar,  not  only  with  the  Common  Law  of 
England  and  America,  but  with  the  jurisprudence  of 
other  countries,  running  back  to  the  Roman  law,  which 
was  the  foundation  of  them  all.  This  vast  learning 
could  not  but  be  of  service  in  his  professional  practice. 

Being  thus  master  of  the  law,  it  did  not  take  him 
long  to  make  himself  master  of  a  case.  No  man  was 
quicker  to  "see  through  "an  involved  legal  question. 
But  that  did  not  supersede  the  most  careful  study 
to  the  minutest  detail.  To  those  who  knew  how 


CLEARNESS   IN    STATING   A   CASE.  103 

he  was  absorbed  in  his  Codes  at  all  hours,  early 
and  late  ;  at  morning  and  midnight ;  the  wonder  was 
that  he  could  find  time  for  anything  beside.  But  no 
trial  ever  came  on  and  found  him  unprepared.  His 
power  of  abstraction  was  such  that  he  could,  if  need 
were,  forget  everything  else,  and  concentrate  his  mind 
upon  the  special  case,  analyzing  it  as  a  chemist  analyzes 
a  compound  substance.  Under  the  blaze  of  this  search 
light,  he  took  it,  as  it  were,  to  pieces,  separating  the 
immaterial  from  the  material,  the  essentials,  on  which 
the  whole  question  turned,  and,  like  a  skilful  general, 
massed  his  forces  on  the  vital  point. 

When  he  had  thus  made  himself  master  both  of  the 
law  and  the  case,  he  had  no  difficulty  in  making  others 
see  it.  He  had  a  singular  precision  of  language,  that 
came  in  part  from  his  training  in  the  higher  mathe 
matics,  so  that  when  he  put  a  proposition  in  words, 
it  was  with  a  sort  of  mathematical  exactness,  until  it 
might  be  said  of  him,  as  was  said  of  Webster,  that 
' '  when  he  had  stated  a  case  he  had  argued  it. " 

But  an  argument,  however  logical,  may  fall  flat  from 
the  coldness  of  him  who  presents  it.  Of  this  indiffer 
ence  he  was  never  guilty.  When  he  undertook  a  case, 
he  put  his  own  personality  into  it,  and  as  he  had  great 
confidence  in  his  own  judgment,  his  opinions,  when 
once  formed,  were  very  positive.  And  this  was  one 
element  of  his  power — that  he  believed  in  himself  !  It 
may  seem  like  making  a  virtue  of  egotism  and  self- 


104  THE   EXTENT   OF   HIS   LEGAL   PRACTICE. 

confidence  to  say  that  a  man  must  believe  in  himself  in 
order  to  have  power  over  others,  but  no  man  ever  did 
much  in  the  world  who  did  not  believe  in  himself. 

Of  course,  as  with  all  lawyers  of  large  practice,  the 
number  of  his  cases  in  sixty  years  was  beyond  counting. 
At  one  time  his  law  practice  was  said  to  be  larger  than 
that  of  any  other  member  of  the  New  York  bar.  Some 
idea  of  the  innumerable  litigations  in  which  he  was 
engaged  may  be  formed  from  a  glance  at  the  fifty  vol 
umes  of  "Cases  and  Points,"  in  which  briefs  and  records 
are  bound  together  in  the  order  of  time.  Of  course,  all 
such  documents  were  but  fragments,  huge  but  unshapen 
masses  of  rock  that  were  to  be  framed  into  the  building 
of  some  great  argument,  but,  even  as  they  are  strown 
over  the  field  of  legal  controversy,  they  show  an  almost 
preternatural  activity.* 

' '  But  where  was  the  place  for  Law  Reform  to  come 
in  ?  "  was  the  question  that  everybody  asked  ;  to  which 
he  replied  that  it  was  a  wonder  to  himself,  but  added 
with  his  usual  philosophy,  "In  one  way  this  outside 
work  was  a  benefit  to  me,  for  the  intensity  of  my  pro 
fessional  life  required  some  relief  from  the  incessant 


*  These  volumes  were  sent  to  his  brother,  Mr.  Justice  Field, 
to  be  kept  by  him  during  his  life,  and  at  his  death  to  be  given 
to  the  New  York  State  Law  Library  in  Albany.  They  are  sup 
plemented  by  a  dozen  Scrap-books,  containing  slips  from  news 
papers  concerning  the  same  litigations  and  other  points  of  per 
sonal  history,  that  may  furnish  materials  to  some  future  historian. 


THE   LAW  AS  A  BUSINESS.  105 

mental  strain,  to  which  the  pursuit  of  an  ideal,  like  that 
of  Law  Reform,  was  a  healthful  diversion"  :  ["health 
ful  diversion  !  " — that  is  good  for  a  work  that  occupied 
him  for  eighteen  years  !]  "and  may  thus  have  kept 
me  from  breaking  down." 

As  to  the  mere  ' '  business  "  of  the  law,  it  is  for  the 
most  part,  like  any  other  business,  very  prosaic,  requir 
ing  no  labored  argument  or  eloquence,  but  only  a  clear 
head,  a  good  intelligence  in  ascertaining  the  facts  of  a 
case,  and  what  relief  or  redress  may  be  furnished  by 
the  law.  This  is  the  every-day  round  of  the  profession, 
in  which  there  is  no  opportunity  for  a  great  advocate 
to  show  any  superiority  to  his  brethren,  all  of  whom 
are  supposed  to  be  to  that  extent  learned  in  the  law. 
If  anybody  were  to  go  to  court  to  hear  Mr.  Field,  and 
the  case  were  one  of  some  commercial  transaction — 
perchance  a  question  of  damages,  which  might  be  a 
matter  of  figures — he  would  probably  hear  only  a  simple 
statement  of  the  case,  which  would  be  all  that  it  required. 
But  give  him  a  great  cause,  in  which  great  principles 
were  involved,  and  he  rose  to  the  occasion  with  a  min 
gling  of  argument  and  of  eloquence,  in  which  there 
was  a  moral  as  well  as  intellectual  power.  When 
he  had  such  a  cause  to  defend,  it  was  with  an  ear 
nestness  which  I  always  thought  he  inherited  from  his 
father,  who,  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  was  wont 
to  speak  "with  authority,"  because  he  spoke  from  the 
infallible  "Word,"  which  no  man  could  question.  The 


106  CLOSING  AN   ARGUMENT. 

same  positiveness  appeared  in  his  eldest  son,  whom  I 
have  heard  laying  down  the  law  as  founded  in  eternal 
justice,  in  a  tone  of  solemnity  that  seemed  to  be  an  echo 
of  the  old  Puritan  when  he  read  the  Ten  Commandments 
with  a  hushed  awe,  as  if  he  had  been  with  Moses  in 
the  Mount,  and  had  heard  the  very  voice  of  God  ! 

Then  it  was,  as  he  drew  near  to  the  close  of  an  argu 
ment,  that  the  great  advocate  appeared  in  his  fullest 
power.  It  was  not  that  his  personal  presence,  however 
"commanding,"  overawed  the  court,  but  there  was 
something  in  his  voice  which  no  judicial  bench  could 
choose  but  hear.  It  was  not  the  soft,  persuasive  tone 
of  one  who  pleads  for  mercy  for  his  client.  There 
was  nothing  of  the  abject  or  even  of  the  humble  peti 
tioner  ;  but  straightening  himself  up  to  his  full  height, 
he  demanded  a  just  verdict  !  At  that  instant  there  rose 
before  him  a  sense  of  the  majesty  of  justice  as  some 
thing  greater  even  than  mercy — as  the  world  is  ' '  estab 
lished  in  righteousness, "  which  is  only  another  name  f  or 
justice — and  that  justice  he  demanded,  not  only  in  the 
name  of  the  law  of  his  country,  but  in  the  name  of  a 
just  as  well  as  an  almighty  Lawgiver  in  heaven. 


DAVID    DUDLEY    FIELD 

THE  FIGURE  AT  THE  BAR 

[From  the  painting  by  Hardie  in  the  Capitol  at  Albany] 


CJJ3IH    Y3.KJLKI    CIIVAU 

JJAH  3HT  TA   HJUJOH  3H1 

[\(fiEdIA  )c  loJiqfO  sfi)  ni  sibisH  yd  ^intnl^  dfij  moiHJ 


CHAPTER  X. 

POSITION  IN  POLITICS.     A  DEMOCRAT,    BUT  OPPOSED 

TO  THE  EXTENSION  OF  SLAVERY.     ANNEXATION 

OF  TEXAS.     RISE  OF  THE  FREE  SOIL  PARTY. 

Much  as  Mr.  Field  loved  his  profession,  he  loved  his 
country  more.  Absorbed  as  he  was  in  the  practice  of 
the  law  and  in  his  legal  reforms,  at  the  same  time  he 
kept  watch  of  public  affairs,  though  at  first  he  only 
looked  on  from  without,  as  an  interested  spectator.  In 
his  political  creed  he  formed  his  own  opinions  from  the 
beginning  in  a  way  that  was  rather  surprising  in  one 
who  was  born  in  Connecticut,  a  State  that  when  he 
was  a  boy  was  the  seat  of  the  rankest  "Federalism," 
and  had  welcomed  in  its  Capitol  the  Hartford  Con 
vention,  which  protested  against  the  war  of  1812,  as 
threatening  to  destroy  the  commerce  of  New  England, 
and  in  which  there  were  mutterings  of  disunion  not 
unlike  those  that  half  a  century  later  burst  forth  in  the 
civil  war.  That  out  of  an  atmosphere  thus  surcharged 
with  anti-democracy  should  come  one  so  free  from  it, 
would  seem  to  indicate  a  complete  mental  evolution.  It 


108  HIS   THEORY   OF   GOVERNMENT. 

may  have  been  owing  in  part  to  his  legal  associations 
in  Albany  and  New  York,  but  most  of  all  was  it  due  to 
an  independence  which  asserted  itself  in  early  manhood. 
He  thought  for  himself,  and  studied  the  questions  of 
political  economy,  as  applied  to  all  governments,  and 
then  specially  to  his  own.     In  general  he  held  that  most 
countries  are  over-governed,  though  he  would  not  go 
quite  so  far  as  to  adopt  the  extreme  maxim  of  democ 
racy,  ' '  The  best  government  is  that  which  governs  least, " 
for  that  would  seem  to  imply  that  the  ideal  state  of 
society  was  no  government  at  all  !     But  he  did  believe 
that  the  tendency  in  all  governments  was  toward  over- 
legislation.     Sixty  years  later  he  wrote  an  article  for 
the   North   American   Review  on  the   Theory  of  our 
Government,  in  which  he  says  :  ' '  There  are  two  theo 
ries  of  government,  the  liberal  and  the  meddlesome," 
meaning  by  the  latter  that  which  "dabbles"  in  all  the 
pursuits  and  occupations  of  men,  and  of  necessity  grows 
into  a  system  of  favoritism,  which  leads  every  kind  of 
industry  to  hang  on  the  central  power,  and  thus  demor 
alizes  the  manliness  of  all  who  live  under  it.     He  would 
not  object  to  the  protection  of  new  industries  in  time 
of  war,  or  in  the  infancy  of  the  Republic,  till  they  were 
able  to  stand  alone  ;  but  the  habit  of  applying  to  the 
Government  for  protection  grew  to  an  enormous  abuse, 
that  was  not   at  all  in  harmony  with  the   simplicity 
of    our    government.      That  was    what   he    called   a 
4 'meddlesome,"  and  he  would  have  added,  a  "mischief 


NOT   MADE   FOR  A   POLITICIAN.  109 

making"  government.     Instead  of  this  "paternalism," 
in  which  the  government  was  to  play  the  part  of   a  , 
4 '  nursing  father  "  to  certain  interests,  whereby  the  many  • 
were  taxed  for  the  benefit  of  a  few,  he  would  adopt  the   \ 
wider  rule  :  "Protection  to  all  and  favor  to  none  !  " 

With  such  principles,  between  the  two  parties  that 
divided  the  country — the  Whigs  and  the  Democrats — 
he  sided  with  the  latter,  and  the  first  political  speech 
he  ever  made  [in  1842]  was  in  Tammany  Hall  !  a 
strange  beginning  for  one  who  was  to  spend  a  large 
part  of  his  life  in  fighting  against  it  !  [The  par 
ticular  occasion,  however,  was  not  one  of  great  impor 
tance,  as  it  only  concerned  the  nomination  of  Robert 
H.  Morris  for  Mayor.]  But  while  thus  sincere  and 
outspoken  in  his  convictions,  he  was  not  made  for  a 
politician.  He  was  too  rigid  and  unbending  in  his 
principles,  and  would  not  be  bound  by  caucuses  or  con 
ventions.  As  the  natural  consequence,  he  never  held 
an  office  in  his  life,  except  for  two  months  in  Congress, 
to  which  he  was  sent  for  a  special  purpose,  to  prevent 
what  he  thought  to  be  a  great  public  wrong.  He  was  J 
once  offered  the  appointment  of  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  New  York,  which  he  declined,  feeling  that  his 
place  was  at  the  bar  rather  than  on  the  bench.  His 
only  public  position  was  that  of  Commissioner  of  the 
Code,  which  could  hardly  be  called  an  office,  for, 
although  it  involved  enormous  labor,  it  was  all  work 
and  no  pay.  But  if  he  was  hedged  about  with  no 


110  HIS   ABSOLUTE   INDEPENDENCE. 

official  dignity,  he  had  what  was  far  better — absolute 
independence,  freedom  to  think,  and  to  speak  what  he 
thought.  The  very  fact  that  he  asked  nothing  for 
himself  gave  him  the  more  weight,  so  that  few  men  in 
public  life  had  a  greater  influence  than  he,  though  he 
stood  apart  and  alone,  determined  to  follow  only  what 
was  dictated  by  his  own  sense  of  public  justice  and 
public  honor. 

Here  beginneth  a  chapter  of  political  history  that  has 
never  been  fully  written,  but  which  ought  to  be,  as  it 
takes  us  back  half  a  century,  to  a  period  when  old  issues 
were  gone,  and  old  parties  were  broken  up,  and  all 
things  became  new.  In  that  long  conflict,  which  lasted 
for  a  whole  generation,  there  was  no  bolder  or  braver 
combatant  for  liberty  than  Mr.  Field.  Though  he  was 
a  Democrat,  he  would  not  be  in  bondage  to  the  name, 
and  the  moment  that  he  saw  that  the  party  was  to  be 
used  as  a  means  of  extending  slavery,  he  spurned  its 
authority,  and  led  the  way  for  others  to  follow. 

The  first  thing  which  aroused  the  alarm  of  the  more 
independent  men  in  both  parties  was  the  movement  for 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  then  almost  a  terra  incognita, 
so  unoccupied  as  to  invite  the  floating  population  that 
always  hangs  on  the  border  of  civilization,  who  had  but 
to  cross  the  Rio  Grande  to  roam  over  the  land  at  will, 
recognizing  no  authority  but  their  own.  When  this 
had  gone  on  for  a  few  years,  and  the  settlers  had 
come  to  number  a  few  thousand,  they  declared  their 


THE   ANNEXATION    OF   TEXAS.  Ill 

independence  of  Mexico  !  This  was  their  own  affair, 
with  which  we  had  no  concern,  till  it  was  proposed  to 
annex  it  to  the  United  States  !  The  motive  of  this  was 
clear.  It  was  not  merely  to  add  to  our  domain,  but  to 
give  a  preponderance  of  territory  and  of  representation 
in  Congress  to  the  slave-holding  States.  The  line  had 
been  drawn  in  18*20  by  the  Missouri  Compromise  : — 
that  slavery  should  not  extend  North  of  a  certain  par 
allel  of  latitude  !  But  there  was  no  obstacle  to  its 
expansion  Southward.  New  territory  would  bring 
increased  population,  that  would  enable  the  South  to 
maintain  its  control  of  the  government. 

The  proposal  to  annex  a  territory  large  enough  for 
an  empire,  Mr.  Field  looked  upon  as  a  gigantic  rob 
bery,  which  was  all  the  worse  if  Mexico  was  too  weak 
to  prevent  it.  As  for  title,  we  had  no  more  right  to 
Texas  than  to  Canada.  In  April,  1844,  there  was  a 
great  demonstration  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  at 
which  he  spoke  with  the  utmost  vehemence  against 
what  he  regarded  as  a  national  crime.  Thus  he  began  : 

' ;  FELLOW  CITIZENS  :  The  President  has  sent  to  the  Senate  a 
treaty  to  annex  to  the  territories  of  this  Union  a  tract  of  country 
six  times  as  large  as  the  State  of  New  York — a  country  which 
till  lately  was  a  part  of  the  neighboring  and  friendly  Republic 
of  Mexico,  and  which  even  now  is  engaged  in  open  war  for  its 
independent  existence.  This  treaty  has  been  negotiated  with 
a  suddenness,  a  secrecy  and  haste  unparalleled  in  our  annals — 
a  suddenness,  secrecy,  and  haste  which  have  no  excuse  in  the 
nature  of  the  act  itself  or  in  the  circumstances  of  the  country. 


112  DENOUNCED  AS   A   CRIME. 

We  are  in  profound  peace  with  all  the  world,  and  tranquil  at 
home.  What  then  can  justify  the  President  in  entering  upon 
and  consummating,  so  far  as  depends  on  him,  a  treaty  of  such 
importance,  almost  before  the  country  was  aware  it  was  con 
templated  ?  This  annexation  was  offered  to  the  Administration 
six  or  seven  years  ago,  and  rejected  on  groands  in  which  the 
whole  country  seemed  to  acquiesce.  We  were,  therefore,  unpre 
pared  for  this  movement,  till  it  came  upon  us  like  thunder  in  a 
clear  sky.  But  I  trust  we  have,  nevertheless,  warning  enough 
to  prepare  for  the  storm.  The  President  was  not  elected  with 
reference  to  any  such  question,  nor  was  the  Senate,  nor  the 
House  of  Representatives.  It  is  of  all  questions  one  in  which 
the  people  should  be  consulted,  and  their  will  ascertained  before 
hand.  We  appeal  from  the  President  to  the  Senate,  from  the 
Senate  to  the  States  of  the  Union,  from  the  States  to  the  sov 
ereign  people.  If  they  determine  that  this  measure  shall  be 
accomplished,  let  it  be  ;  if  they  do  not,  let  no  secret  cabal,  no 
set  of  men  in  power,  effect  it.  ... 

"Admit  that  the  cause  of  quarrel  between  Texas  and  Mexico 
was  just ;  yet  the  struggle  was  one  in  which  we  had  no  right  to 
interfere ;  and,  if  we  had  followed  the  advice  of  the  fathers  of 
our  country,  we  should  not  have  interfered. 

' '  How  was  the  revolution  accomplished  and  made  successful  ? 
By  aid  from  this  country  ;  without  aid  from  us,  Texan  indepen 
dence  could  not  have  been  established.  It  was  well  known  that 
bands  of  hunters  were  organized  in  the  Western  States  to  hunt 
in  Texas,  though  there  was  nothing  for  them  to  hunt  but  Mexi 
can  soldiers.  The  aid  our  people  sent  them  in  men,  in  money, 
in  munitions  of  war,  accomplished  the  revolution.  Mexico  com 
plained,  and  how  was  she  answered  by  our  Government?  It 
said,  We  mean  in  good  faith  to  fulfil  our  treaty  stipulations, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  our  men  from  going  over  our 


ANNEXATION   MEANS  WAR.  113 

immense  frontier ;  we  cannot  maintain  a  cordon  of  troops  for 
a  thousand  miles,  in  an  uninhabited  country  ;  but  we  will  pre 
vent  all  aid  from  this  country  as  far  as  we  can. 

''That  answer  absolved  the  Government ;  but,  if  it  were  not 
able  to  prevent  the  wrong  which  our  citizens  perpetrated,  let 
it  not  profit  by  it.  Let  us  not  proclaim  our  weakness  as  our 
excuse,  and  then  take  advantage  of  the  spoliation  which  our 
weakness  permitted.  The  state  of  the  case  is  simply  this  :  Mex 
ico  has  been  despoilecl  of  one  of  her  finest  provinces  ;  the  spoilers 
went  out  from  among  you,  because  you  could  not  prevent  them. 
Then  take  not  back  to  your  bosom  the  spoilers  and  the  spoil. 
If  you  receive  them,  the  whole  world  will  pronounce  you  faith 
less.  ,  .  . 

' '  The  annexation  of  Texas  is  war  with  Mexico  !  We  have 
the  authority  of  our  venerable  President  [Tyler]  that  it  is  not 
merely  the  provocative  of  war,  but  war  itself.  War,  moreover, 
declared  by  the  President  and  Senate,  when  the  Constitution 
confided  the  "war-making  power  to  Congress.  Consider  what 
must  follow  such  an  act.  You  extend  your  frontier  from  the 
Sabine  to  the  Rio  Grande.  Your  troops  must  occupy  the  fort 
resses  of  Texas.  Your  troops  instead  of  Texan  troops  must 
defend  them  against  Mexico.  Are  you  prepared  for  war  ?  If 
you  are,  in  the  name  of  justice,  in  the  name  of  honor,  let  it  be 
fairly  and  manfully  waged  !  I  am  for  war  too,  when  necessary, 
in  defence  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  our  country.  But  I 
am  not  for  an  aggressive  war  against  a  weak  and  unoffending 
neighbor.  The  people  of  this  republic  are  the  best  judges  of 
that  question  ;  let  them  decide  it.  If  we  are  to  have  war,  let  it 
be  such  a  war  as  our  forefathers  waged,  in  self-defence,  for  the 
maintenance  of  our  rights  and  honor." 

But  in  spite  of  all  warnings,  it  seemed  that  the 
Democratic  party  was  to  be  given  up  to  blindness  in 


114  THE   WAR   WITH   MEXICO. 

taking  this  step.  At  the  Baltimore  Convention  a  few 
weeks  after,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  thrown  overboard, 
simply  because  he  had  written  a  letter  against  the  annex 
ation  of  Texas,  and  James  K.  Polk  was  nominated  on 
a  platform  committing  the  party  to  it.  Polk  was  elected 
and  Texas  was  brought  into  the  Union.  Then  came 
the  war  that  Mr.  Field  had  predicted,  which,  though 
we  were  victorious,  was  looked  upon  by  the  best  people 
of  the  North  with  a  repugnance  that  no  tidings  of  vic 
tory  could  remove  :  as  I  once  heard  Rufus  Choate  say 
with  his  inimitable  touch  of  beauty  and  tenderness  : 
' '  The  wail  of  the  daughters  of  Mexico  is  no  music  to 
our  ears  !  " 

But  when  the  cruel  war  was  over,  it  appeared  that 
the  South  had  a  larger  purpose  still,  for  it  ended  not  only 
with  the  annexation  of  Texas,  but  of  California  also, 
which,  however,  was  obtained,  not  by  conquest,  but  by 
purchase  ;  and  with  this  further  acquisition  came  the 
demand  that  it  should  be  admitted  as  a  slave  State  ! 
Anticipating  this,  Mr.  Wilmot,  a  Democrat  in  Congress 
from  Pennsylvania,  had  introduced  as  an  amendment 
to  a  bill  for  purchasing  Mexican  territory,  his  famous 
proviso  :  ' '  That  as  an  express  and  fundamental  con 
dition  to  the  acquisition  of  any  territory  from  the 
Republic  of  Mexico,  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary 
servitude  shall  ever  exist  in  any  part  of  the  said  ter 
ritory,"  which  was  adopted  in  the  House,  but  rejected 
in  the  Senate.  Soon  it  became  a  battle-cry  for  the 


NO   MORE   SLAVE   TERRITORY.  115 

North.  At  the  same  time  Mr.  Field  wrote  the  famous 
"Secret  Circular"  and  "Joint  Letter,"  designed  to 
rally  the  anti-slavery  portion  of  the  Democratic  party. 
In  1847  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Syracuse  Convention, 
where  the  Democratic  party  was  split  in  two  over  the 
question  of  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  on  that  occa 
sion  he  introduced  the  famous  resolution,  long  after 
ward  known  as  "The  Corner- Stone,"  which  was  for 
years  displayed  at  the  head  of  the  leading  column 
of  the  Albany  Atlas,  as  the  rallying  cry  of  the  Free 
Democracy.  It  was  in  these  words  : 

"Resolved,  That  while  the  Democracy  of  New  York,  repre 
sented  in  this  convention,  will  faithfully  adhere  to  all  the  com 
promises  of  the  Constitution,  and  maintain  all  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  States,  they  declare,  since  the  crisis  has  arrived 
when  that  question  must  be  met,  their  uncompromising  hostility 
to  the  extension  of  slavery  into  territory  now  free,  or  which 
may  be  hereafter  acquired  by  any  action  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States." 

Matters  came  to  a  head  in  1848  with  the  nomination 
of  General  Cass.  When  the  Democrats  of  New  York 
assembled  in  mass  meeting  to  hear  the  report  of  their 
delegates  to  Baltimore,  they  were  very  much  excited. 
Mr.  Field  wrote  the  address,  which  declared  their  strong 
disapproval.  Carrying  their  feeling  into  action,  a  por 
tion  of  the  party  refused  to  support  General  Cass,  and 
nominated  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  President,  and  Charles 
Francis  Adams  for  Vice-President,  on  the  platform  of 


116  BEGINNING   OF   THE   FREE   SOIL   PARTY. 

nc)  more  extension  of  slavery.  In  support  of  these 
principles  and  candidates,  Mr.  Field  spoke  at  a  large 
meeting  in  the  city,  and^  wrote  the  address  of  the 
Democratic- Republican  Committee  to  the  electors  of 
the  State.  Nor  did  he  confine  himself  to  New  York  ; 
he  carried  the  war  into  New  England,  into  Faneuil  Hall, 
where  he  was  introduced  by  Charles  Sumner,  and  spoke 
with  a  spirit  of  resistance  to  the  domination  of  slavery 
that  seemed  as  if  it  were  an  echo  of  the  days  of  the 
Revolution. 

Here  was  the  beginning  of  the  Free  Soil  party, 
which  took  the  field  with  increased  determination  when 
it  was  proposed  to  open  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to  the 
introduction  of  slavery  !  There  was  a  Chinese  wall 
in  the  way  in  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  declared 
that  slavery  should  never  cross  the  line  of  36  degrees 
and  30  minutes  !  All  above  that  was  holy  ground, 
consecrated  to  liberty.  But  what  spot  on  earth  was 
ever  sacred  to  an  ambitious  politician?  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  of  Illinois,  was  the  most  popular  man  in  the 
Northwest,  and  if  he  could  make  himself  equally  popu 
lar  at  the  South,  he  would  have  a  triumphal  march  to 
the  Presidential  chair.  For  this  it  was  only  necessary 
to  break  down  the  barrier  to  the  extension  of  slavery, 
when  Southern  statesmen  would  be  able  to  boast  : 

"  No  pent  up  Utica  contracts  our  powers, 
But  the  whole  boundless  Continent  is  ours." 


ANNULLING   THE   MISSOURI   COMPROMISE.         117 

But  it  was  a  delicate  matter  to  touch  the  Missouri  Com 
promise.  It  could  not  be  done  openly  and  avowedly,  but 
it  might  be  made  of  no  effect  by  giving  it  a  new  inter 
pretation,  to  which  Mr.  Douglas  was  competent,  pre 
paring  a  bill  in  which  it  was  declared  to  be  "  the  true 
intent  and  meaning  of  the  act,  not  to  legislate  slavery 
into  any  state  or  territory,  nor  to  exclude  it  therefrom, 
but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  form 
and  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own 
way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States."  This  was  not  a  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise  !  Oh  no  !  Those  who  voted  for  it  would 
never  lay  sacrilegious  hands  on  anything  so  sacred, 
which  had  come  down  to  them  from  their  fathers  ! 
That  old  fortress  of  liberty  was  left  standing  in  the 
wilderness,  a  picturesque  ruin,  covered  with  moss, 
while  the  sappers  and  miners  had  cut  a  way  through 
the  forest,  broad  enough  for  the  whole  South  to  march 
round  it. 

No  sooner  had  the  partition  wall  been  broken  down 
than  planters  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  other  States 
farther  South  came  by  boat-loads  up  the  Missouri  River, 
with  all  the  field-hands  from  their  plantations,  and 
swarmed  into  what  was  then  known  as  the  Platte 
Country,  where  the  * '  hot  bloods  "  became  the  famous, 
or  infamous,  "Border  Ruffians,"  that  long  kept  the 
country  in  a  state  of  terror.  There  were  also  settlers 
from  the  East,  but  "on  the  side  of  their  oppressors 


118  SLAVES   BROUGHT   INTO   KANSAS. 

there  was  power,"  for  they  were  supported  by  the 
national  government,  which  undertook  to  put  down 
resistance  by  law,  arresting  opposers  and  throwing 
them  into  prison,  till  the  blood  of  the  North,  that  was 
supposed  to  be  very  cold,  began  to  boil  as  never  before. 
Indignation  meetings  were  held  in  the  Eastern  cities,  in 
which  collections  were  taken  up  to  supply  the  Northern 
men  with  rifles.  Nor  was  this  confined  to  New  Eng 
land  :  the  city  of  New  York  was  the  focus  of  a  great 
popular  excitement.  Never  shall  I  forget  a  meeting  in 
the  old  Broadway  Tabernacle,  that  was  crowded  by 
men  in  a  state  of  irritation  that  could  hardly  be  con 
trolled.  I  was  in  the  ante-room  with  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  who  was  pacing  up  and  down,  like  a  lion  in 
a  cage.  As  I  sat  near  him  on  the  platform,  I  saw  that 
he  was  under  the  power  of  a  great  passion,  which  cul 
minated  in  a  dramatic  scene  when  he  took  up  in  his 
hands  a  chain  that  had  been  used  to  bind  the  limbs  of 
men  in  Kansas,  and  raising  it  above  his  head,  he  dashed 
it  to  the  floor,  and  trampled  upon  it  in  token  of  his  con 
tempt  and  scorn  for  a  government  that  could  stoop 
so  low.  Such  was  the  excitement  that,  had  there  been 
a  call  for  volunteers,  many  would  have  been  ready  to 
take  their  muskets  on  their  shoulders,  and  set  their 
faces  towards  the  West.  It  was  easy  to  call  this  fanat 
icism,  but  it  was  the  kind  of  fanaticism  that  soon  after 
flamed  out  on  the  field  of  battle.  Mr.  Field  was  the  last 
man  to  be  called  a  fanatic,  but  he  was  stirred  to  indig- 


EXCITEMENT  AT   THE   EAST.  119 

nation  by  the  audacity  of  the  South  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  cowardice  of  the  North  on  the  other.  Of  course 
there  was  a  great  outcry  that  he  had  deserted  his  party, 
and  been  false  to  his  Democratic  principles,  to  which  he 
replied  in  a  letter  to  the  Albany  Atlas,  dated  May  22, 
1856  : 

"Though  I  have  not  hitherto  acted  with  the  Republican 
party,  my  sympathies  are  of  course  with  the  friends  of  freedom, 
wherever  they  may  be  found.  I  despise  equally  the  fraud 
which  uses  the  name  of  Democracy  to  cheat  men  of  their  rights ; 
the  cowardice  which  retracts  this  year  what  it  professed  and 
advocated  the  last ;  and  the  falsehood  which  affects  to  teach 
the  right  of  the  people  of  the  Territories  to  govern  themselves, 
while  it  imposes  on  them  Federal  governors  and  judges,  and 
indicts  them  for  treason  against  the  Union  because  they  make 
a  constitution  and  laws  which  they  prefer,  and  collects  forces 
from  the  neighboring  States  and  the  Federal  army  to  compel 
them  to  submission." 

This  Kansas  business  gave  a  tremendous  impulse  to 
the  Free  Soil  Party,  which  grew  to  such  proportions  as 
to  give  a  strong  hope  that  it  might  elect  its  candidate 
for  the  Presidency,  for  which  it  nominated  Fremont, 
whom  Mr.  Field  supported  in  speeches  in  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania. 

By  these  successive  strokes,  the  wedge  was  driven 
deeper  and  deeper,  by  which  the  old  Democratic  party, 
which  had  so  long  ruled  the  country,  was  cleft  asun 
der,  while  the  Free  Soil  Party  grew  stronger  and 


120   FORMATION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 

stronger  with  every  battle  that  it  fought,  until  it 
united  with  the  Anti-slavery  portion  of  the  Whigs, 
and  formed  the  Republican  Party,  that  was  in  the 
fullness  of  time  to  gain  the  control  of  the  government 
in  the  election  of  the  man  for  the  hour.  Here  the 
curtain  rises  on  a  great  figure,  and  on  a  series  of  events 
with  whose  beginning  we  enter  on  the  most  awful,  the 
most  tragical,  and  yet  in  the  end  the  most  triumphant, 
period  in  American  history. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  NOMINATION  OF  LINCOLN.     A  CHAPTER  OF 
UNWRITTEN  HISTORY. 

Man  proposes,  but  God  disposes.  Ambition  over 
leaps  itself.  The  political  maneuvering  which  was  to 
make  a  popular  leader  President,  ended  in  his  defeat, 
and  the  election  of  his  rival.  It  was  one  thing  for 
Douglas  to  carry  a  measure  in  Congress,  and  another 
to  settle  with  his  constituents  at  home.  When  he 
returned  to  Illinois,  he  found  that  he  had  lighted  a  fire 
on  the  prairies  that  could  not  be  put  out.  He  had  to 
make  a  campaign  through  the  State,  and  wherever  he 
went  he  was  confronted  by  a  new  antagonist,  a  tall, 
lank,  ungainly  Kentuckian,  with  not  a  single  grace  of 
manner,  but  whose  long  right  arm  could  deal  heavy 
blows.  No  two  men  were  more  unlike  even  in  their 
personal  appearance,  for  while  the  new-comer  stood  six 
feet  four,  Douglas  was  so  diminutive  in  stature  that  he 
was  nicknamed  the  Little  Giant,  a  picturesque  combi 
nation  of  two  such  figures  on  the  same  stage.  But 
the  contrast  in  the  personality  of  the  men  was  soon 
forgotten  in  the  earnestness  on  both  sides,  which  made 


122     FIRST   APPEARANCE   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

it  one  of  the  most  exciting  political  contests  ever  seen 
in  this  country.  The  question  was  one  of  supreme 
importance,  that  of  carrying  slavery  into  the  new 
Territories,  and  roused  each  to  put  forth  his  utmost 
strength.  Douglas  had  the  advantage  of  a  great  repu 
tation  and  the  skill  acquired  in  many  a  hard  battle, 
but  with  all  this  he  carried  the  State  only  by  a  bare 
majority,  and  was  reelected  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
but  the  contest  for  the  first  time  made  the  name  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  known  to  the  American  people. 

There  is  nothing  that  rouses  popular  enthusiasm 
like  the  discovery  of  an  unknown  great  man.  The 
fame  of  this  debate  went  beyond  the  bounds  of  Illinois, 
till  the  echo  was  heard  even  in  the  East,  and  though 
the  scene  of  contest  was  so  far  away  that  it  was  like 
the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  yet  the  voice 
was  so  clear  and  strong  that  men  pricked  up  their  ears 
to  hear,  and  asked  who  it  was  that  spoke,  and  what 
manner  of  man  he  was  ?  The  next  step  was  to  invite 
him  to  come  to  New  York  and  give  a  lecture  on  the 
political  situation.  How  well  I  remember  his  first 
appearance  before  an  Eastern  audience  !  It  was  in  the 
Cooper  Institute  as  it  was  in  the  old  days,  when  the 
platform  of  the  great  hall  was  not  in  the  middle,  but 
at  the  far  end,  and  I  can  see  him  now  as  the  door 
opened,  and  the  tall  figure  came  forward,  accompanied 
by  William  Cullen  Bryant  and  David  Dudley  Field. 
As  I  sat  on  the  platform  close  to  the  speaker,  I  caught 


LECTURE   AT   THE   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  123 

every  word,  and  observed  every  gesture.  He  spoke  in 
a  high-pitched  voice,  in  which  there  was  not  a  trace  of 
the  smooth-tongued  orator  ;  but  there  was  a  singular 
clearness  in  his  style,  with  a  merciless  logic  which  no 
listener  could  escape,  as  he  unfolded  link  after  link 
in  the  iron  chain  of  his  argument. 

But  there  was  more  in  evidence  that  night  than  skill 
in  debate  :  there  was  a  revelation  of  the  man,  as  one 
who  loved  his  party,  but  loved  his  country  more.  The 
fairness  to  his  opponents  was  quite  unusual  in  politi 
cal  combatants.  It  was  not  as  if  he  were  fighting  an 
enemy,  but  reasoning  with  a  friend.  The  lecture  closed 
with  an  appeal  to  the  South,  that  was  not  at  all  in  a 
tone  of  threatening,  but  of  pleading  with  kindred,  with 
those  who  were  our  brothers — if  brothers  estranged,  yet 
brothers  still — partakers  with  us  in  the  great  inheritance 
of  liberty.  It  was  this  "  sweet  reasonableness,"  this 
''gentleness  of  wisdom,"  and  above  all,  the  tone  of 
"sad  sincerity"  that  gave  me,  who  heard  him  then 
for  the  first  and  the  last  time,  an  indelible  impression  of 
the  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

But  three  months  passed  and  this  man  of  the  people 
was  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  a  step  forward 
which  took  the  country  by  surprise,  and  which  to  this 
day  is  enveloped  in  some  degree  of  mystery.  If  we 
were  in  France  we  might  say  that  "it  is  always  the 
unexpected  that  happens,"  but  among  a  people  that 
are  not  so  readily  carried  away  by  sudden  impulse, 


124  HOW   A   PRESIDENT   IS   NOMINATED. 

events  come  to  pass  in  a  more  regular  and  orderly  way. 

Since  the  campaign  of  Fremont  the  Republican  party 
had  grown  in  numbers  till  it  was  strong  enough  to  make 
a  bold  strike  for  the  possession  of  the  government ;  and 
when  the  Democrats  split  into  two  factions,  and  nomi 
nated  two  candidates,  while  a  third  party,  made  up  of 
old  Whigs  and  Know-nothings,  nominated  a  third,  the 
Republicans  felt,  like  Cromwell,  that  "the  Lord  had 
delivered  the  enemy  into  their  hands. " 

The  custom  had  long  obtained  of  nominating  candi 
dates  for  the  two  highest  offices  of  the  government — 
President  and  Vice- President — by  a  National  Conven 
tion  made  up  of  representatives  from  all  the  States, 
to  double  the  number  of  their  members  of  Congress, 
a  fair  apportionment,  and  a  good  way  to  get  at  the  will 
of  the  people  so  long  as  they  were  left  to  freedom  of 
choice.  The  danger  came  in  only  when  one  man  under 
took  to  do  their  choosing  for  them,  in  which  case  the  free 
election  became  a  solemn  farce.  New  York,  having 
two  Senators  and  thirty-three  members  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  was  entitled  to  seventy  delegates, 
that  were  to  be  designated  by  a  State  Convention  which 
met  at  Syracuse  a  few  weeks  before  the  National  Con 
vention.  One  who  was  a  member  of  the  nominating 
Committee  appointed  by  this  Convention  tells  me  that 
they  came  together  with  all  due  gravity,  as  if  they 
were  a  legislative  body  to  enter  into  high  debate  on 
matters  of  national  importance.  ' '  But, "  he  added, 


THURLOW   WEED.  125 

' '  we  might  have  saved  ourselves  the  trouble,  for  while 
we  were  in  the  room  with  closed  doors,  as  if  delib 
erating  in  the  profound  secrecy  of  a  papal  conclave, 
Thurlow  Weed  sat  just  outside  the  door  to  tell  us  whom 
to  nominate  !  " 

Mr.  Weed  was  an  old  campaigner,  who  had  fought 
many  battles  and  won  many  victories.  I  once  heard 
the  late  Mr.  Edwards  Pierrepont,  in  a  case  before  the 
courts,  speak  of  him,  as  he  sat  at  the  bar,  as  ' '  the  man 
who  had  made  Senators,  Governors  and  Presidents  !  " 
He  was  now  to  try  his  hand  again,  and  laid  his  schemes 
with  full  assurance  of  victory.  The  first  thing  was  to 
have  well  in  hand  the  delegation  from  New  York.  He 
knew  the  men  for  his  purpose.  They  must  be  men  of 
good  standing  in  the  party,  whose  names  would  have 
weight  with  the  public,  but  at  the  same  time  he  wanted 
supple,  pliant  men,  not  too  scrupulous  about  little  mat 
ters,  who  held  him  in  awe,  and  would  defer  to  his 
political  sagacity.  Of  course,  he  had  no  use  for  men 
like  Horace  Greeley  or  David  Dudley  Field,  who  were 
too  independent  and  self-willed.  When  they  reached 
Chicago  Mr.  Greeley  (to  Mr.  Weed's  great  disgust)  was 
elected  a  delegate  from  Oregon  !  Mr.  Field  was  left 
standing  without,  but  found  that  an  outsider  may  some 
times  have  an  influence  as  great  as  an  insider,  of  which 
he  was  to  give  signal  proof  before  the  contest  was  over. 

The  Convention  met  in  Chicago  May  16th,  1860,  in 
a  huge,  barn-like  structure  that  had  been  erected  for 


126  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

the  purpose,  called  "  The  Wigwam."  Here  the  Repub 
licans,  as  they  answered  to  the  roll-call,  mustered 
465  strong  !  All  went  smoothly  for  the  first  two  days, 
and  seemed  to  point  to  one  man  who  among  all  the 
candidates  stood  foremost,  as  if  appointed  by  heaven 
to  lead  them  to  victory.  This  was  the  distinguished 
Senator  from  New  York,  William  H.  Seward.  Nor 
did  there  seem  a  doubt  of  his  nomination.  On  the 
eve  of  the  decisive  day  Thurlow  Weed  said  that  he 
' '  was  sure  of  success, "  and  Mr.  Evarts,  that  * '  the  vic 
tory  was  certain,  and  would  be  rapid  !  "  Indeed  Mr. 
Greeley,  who  was  strongly  opposed  to  it,  gave  up  the 
contest,  and  at  midnight  telegraphed  to  the  Tribune  in 
New  York,  that  the  opposition  could  not  concentrate 
upon  any  candidate,  and  that  Governor  Seward  would 
be  nominated  ! 

But  when  the  morning  came,  and  the  divisions  of 
the  Republican  army  marched  into  the  Wigwam  and 
grounded  their  arms  for  the  more  peaceful  work  of 
the  vote,  to  the  amazement  of  friends  and  foes,  the 
natural  heir  to  the  crown  was  defeated,  and  Abraham 
Lincoln  proved  to  be  the  man  of  destiny.  As  this 
was  a  surprise  even  to  the  Convention  itself,  we  cannot 
help  asking  by  what  influences,  open  or  secret,  it  was 
brought  about,  for  we  cannot  exaggerate  its  impor 
tance.  It  was  the  turning-point  in  the  life  of  Lin 
coln.  If  he  had  not  been  nominated  that  morning, 
he  would  have  remained  to  be,  what  he  was  before, 


WHAT   MIGHT   HAVE   BEEN.  127 

a  country  lawyer  in  Illinois,  making  his  round  with  the 
circuit  of  the  courts.  He  might  still  have  been  a  con 
spicuous  figure  in  Western  politics,  (for  he  was  not  a 
man  to  sink  into  oblivion,)  but  for  the  time  at  least  it  is 
probable  that  he  would  have  returned  to  his  profession 
and  the  even  tenor  of  his  life  would  have  flowed  on  as 
gently  as  before. 

Nor  was  the  result  of  less  moment  to  the  country. 
With  the  defeat  of  Lincoln  the  hand  on  the  dial  of  his 
tory  would  have  been  turned  backward.  The  mighty 
succession  of  events  that  followed — the  secession  of  the 
Southern  States,  the  call  to  arms,  the  four  years'  war, 
and  the  abolition  of  slavery — all  would  have  been  passed 
over  to  another  generation.  Hence  it  was  a  critical 
moment  in  our  national  life.  In  view  of  the  tremen 
dous  consequences  that  followed  in  peace  and  war,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  the  whole  course  of  American 
history  turned  on  the  decision  of  that  hour  ! 

As  we  come  to  the  how  and  the  why  of  this  sudden 
revolution,  I  turn  to  a  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  a  massive 
octavo  of  nearly  eight  hundred  pages,  by  a  distinguished 
author,  Henry  J.  Raymond,  the  founder  and  editor  of 
the  New  York  Times  ;  who  was  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  whole  history  of  American  politics  ;  with  the 
rise  and  fall  of  parties  and  of  men.  He  records  briefly 
that  "On  Thursday,  the  17th  of  May,  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  reported  the  Platform,  which  was  enthusi 
astically  adopted.  A  motion  was  made  to  proceed  to 


128  RAYMOND'S  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

the  nomination  at  once,  and  if  that  had  been  done,  the 
result  of  the  Convention  might  have  proved  very  dif 
ferent,  as  at  that  time  it  was  thought  that  Mr.  Seward's 
chances  were  the  best.  But  an  adjournment  was  taken 
till  the  morning,  and  during  the  night  the  combinations 
were  made  which  resulted  in  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Lincoln." 

So  much  and  no  more  !  This  is  very  calmly  stated, 
as  if  it  were  in  the  natural  order  of  the  proceedings. 
But  the  reason  for  this  subdued  tone  is  apparent  in  the 
Preface,  in  which  the  author  says  that  the  book  was 
"  prepared  during  the  Presidential  canvass  of  1864," 
and  that  l '  its  main  object  was  to  afford  the  American 
people  the  materials  for  forming  an  intelligent  judgment 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  continuing  Mr.  Lincoln  for  four 
years  more  in  the  Presidential  office." 

The  purpose  of  the  book,  then,  was  to  be  a  campaign 
document,  issued  to  influence  the  coming  election,  a  help 
that  was  sorely  needed  at  that  hour  when  there  was 
real  danger  of  Lincoln's  defeat — a  danger  that  was 
not  removed  till  after  Sherman's  capture  of  Atlanta. 
While  there  was  any  doubt  as  to  the  result,  it  would 
have  been  the  height  of  unwisdom  to  open  old  wounds, 
and  revive  old  antagonisms.  For  the  time  it  was  a 
duty  to  forget  past  "unpleasantness,"  and  unite  all 
hearts  to  save  the  Republic. 

But  now  that  the  danger  is  past,  that  the  war  is 
over,  and  that  we  are  seeking  after  the  truth  of  his- 


A  MYSTERY   TO   BE   SOLVED.  129 

tory,  we  go  back  to  the  original  documents,  and  appeal 
from  the  Mr.  Raymond  of  1864  to  the  Mr.  Raymond 
of  1860,  when  he  was  just  from  the  Chicago  Conven 
tion,  and  tells  a  fuller  and  a  plainer  story,  letting  out 
the  real  state  of  things  on  that  memorable  night  when, 
as  he  mildly  puts  it,  "the  combinations  were  made 
which  resulted  in  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln." 
Combinations  by  whom  ?  Was  there  a  movement  all 
along  the  line  ?  Or  was  there  a  secret  Gunpowder  Plot 
to  make  an  end  of  Mr.  Se ward's  political  ambition  ? 

Some  have  found  an  easy  way  to  explain  the  result 
by  assuming  that  there  was  no  plot  at  all,  but  only  that 
the  delegates,  in  their  calm  deliberations  in  the  stillness 
of  the  night,  had  come  to  the  painful  conclusion  that 
they  must  sacrifice  their  personal  preferences  to  the 
"political  necessity"  of  having  a  candidate  who  could 
carry  the  four  doubtful  States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Penn 
sylvania  and  New  Jersey  !  No  doubt  that  had  its 
weight,  but  it  is  one  thing  to  say  that  it  was  a  reason, 
and  another  that  it  was  the  one  and  overmastering 
consideration.  The  latter  Mr.  Raymond  flatly  denies, 
and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that,  on  the  contrary, 
' '  The  nomination  finally  made  was  purely  an  accident, 
decided  far  more  by  the  shouts  and  applause  of  the  vast 
concourse  which  dominated  the  Convention  than  by  the 
direct  labors  of  any  of  the  delegates." 

Here  then  we  are  all  at  sea.  A  flippant  dismissal 
of  the  subject  only  deepens  the  mystery.  If  at  mid- 


130  PERSONAL   RIVALRIES. 

night  it  was  conceded  on  both  sides  that  the  result  was 
inevitable,  that  Seward  would  be  nominated  the  next 
morning  ;  and  at  the  appointed  hour  he  was  defeated  ; 
then  between  midnight  and  morning  something  hap 
pened.  What  was  it  ?  To  talk  in  &  general  way  of 
' '  political  necessity  "  is  to  evade  the  question  :  it  is  an 
explanation  that  does  not  explain.  Instead  of  asking, 
What  did  it  ?  it  is  more  to  the  point  to  ask,  Who  did  it  ? 
for  it  was  not  abstract  considerations,  but  a  living  pres 
ence  that  appeared  in  the  darkness  of  that  memorable 
night.  It  was  not  a  miracle,  wrought  by  unseen  hands. 
It  was  the  work  of  men,  who  were  not  only  in  the  flesh, 
but  very  much  alive.  To  Mr.  Raymond,  looking  on  as 
a  spectator — eager,  earnest,  and  knowing  all  the  actors 
in  the  foreground — the  contest  seemed  to  be  not  so  much 
a  political  as  a  personal  one.  There  was  no  difference 
among  the  candidates  as  to  the  platform  of  principles  on 
which  the  battle  was  to  be  fought  :  but  there  came  in 
another  element  more  powerful  than  all  the  logic  in  the 
world — the  personal  antagonism,  that  no  man  can  tame, 
and  that  often  carries  a  public  body  by  storm.  Whoever 
has  been  present  at  a  political  convention — especially  if 
it  be  to  choose  a  President — knows  that  it  is  a  cyclone  of 
warring  ambitions,  of  which  it  is  not  possible  to  get  any 
adequate  impression  except  from  one  who  was  in  the 
storm-centre,  and  who  can  truly  say,  "All  of  which  I 
saw,  and  part  of  which  I  was." 

If  we  cannot  get  such  an  inside  view  of  the  Conven- 


A   MELANCHOLY   TALE.  131 

tion  from  biographers  and  historians,  perchance  we 
may  get  it  from  the  newspaper  correspondence  of  the 
day,  where  we  need  no  higher  authority  than  Mr.  Ray 
mond  himself,  when  the  final  decision  relieved  him  from 
all  restraint,  and  he  was  free  to  declare  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  He  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  in  any  doubt  as  to  who  defeated  his 
candidate.  As  no  one  can  tell  the  story  so  well  as 
himself,  it  is  better  to  let  him  tell  it  in  his  own  words. 
A  few  days  after  the  Convention  adjourned,  there 
appeared  in  the  New  York  Times  a  letter  of  two  col 
umns  and  a  half,  whose  very  date  is  significant,  and 
prepares  us  for  the  melancholy  tone  in  which  it  begins  : 

"AUBURN,  May  22,  1860. — I  have  turned  aside  from 
my  direct  route  homeward,  to  pay  a  visit  of  respect  and 
friendship  to  Governor  Seward.  I  found  him  as  busily 
and  happily  engaged  in  directing  the  improvements  in 
his  delightful  country  residence  as  if  no  such  incidents 
as  treachery  and  disappointment  ever  disturbed  the 
tenor  of  political  life."  As  to  his  future,  "he  regards 
his  public  life  as  definitely  closed.  You  may  dismiss 
all  the  speculations  in  which  the  public  journals  are  just 
now  indulging  as  to  his  place  in  the  new  Republican 
administration — if  we  have  one — as  idle  and  useless. 
Henceforth  the  only  sphere  of  his  labors  will  be  his 
home,  and  the  society  which  surrounds  it." 

From  this  mournful  picture  of  fallen  greatness,  Mr. 
Raymond  turns  to  the  author  of  it,  and  makes  a  savage 


132  THE 

attack  upon  Horace  Greeley,  as  the  creeping,  crafty, 
and  malignant  destroyer  of  the  great  statesman.  How 
a  poor  young  man,  coming  from  a  farm  in  Vermont  to 
be  a  type-setter  in  a  printing  office  in  New  York,  cculd 
rise  to  such  influence  and  power,  is  shown  by  a  reference 
to  his  career.  As  Mr.  Raymond  would  have  it,  he  owed 
it  all  to  Mr.  Seward.  "For  twenty  years  Greeley  had 
been  sustaining  the  political  principles  and  vindicating 
the  political  conduct  of  Mr.  Seward  through  the  col 
umns  of  the  most  influential  political  newspaper  in  the 
country  "  ;  during  all  which  ' '  he  was  proud  to  have  been 
his  personal  friend  and  political  supporter,"  a  devotion 
that  continued  till  he  was  alienated  by  the  fact  that 
the  great  Senator  did  not  sufficiently  recognize  the  hard 
working  Editor,  but  listened  more  to  the  wily  influence 
of  Thurlow  Weed — a  dissatisfaction  that  grew  to  such 
a  point  that  once,  in  a  moment  of  irritation,  he  wrote 
a  letter  to  "the  party  of  the  other  part,"  in  which  he 
announced  that  ' '  the  firm  of  Seward,  Weed  and  Greeley 
was  dissolved  !  "  This  alienation — though  it  did  not 
come  to  an  open  and  public  rupture — was  never  healed. 
For  six  years  the  retired  member  of  the  firm  was 

"Nursing  his  wrath  to  keep  it  warm," 

till  the  Chicago  Convention  gave  him  the  opportunity 
to  ' '  wreak  upon  Mr.  Seward  the  long-hoarded  revenge 
of  a  disappointed  office-seeker  "  ! 

This  was  a  heavy  charge  to  throw  upon  Mr.  Greeley. 


THE   PART   OF   MR.    FIELD.  133 

No  matter  how  much  he  pleaded  innocence — or,  to  put 
it  more  gently,  wished  to  divide  the  responsibility  of  the 
nomination — Raymond  retorts  bitterly  :  ' '  He  awards  to 
others  the  credit  that  belongs  transcendently  to  himself, " 
and  to  sum  it  all  up  he  says  :  ' '  The  great  point  aimed 
at  was  Mr.  Seward's  defeat ;  and  in  that  Mr.  Greeley 
labored  harder,  and  did  tenfold  more,  than  the  whole 
family  of  Blairs,  together  with  all  the  gubernatorial 
candidates  to  whom  he  awards  the  honors  of  the  effec 
tive  campaign." 

This  is  sufficiently  explicit.  But  Mr.  Raymond  has  one 
more  indictment  to  make.  The  next  day  he  returns  to 
the  subject  in  an  editorial  in  which  he  brings  under  the 
same  condemnation  ' '  Dudley  Field,  who  labored  with 
equal  energy  in  the  common  cause,"  though  he  does  not 
presume  to  impute  to  him  the  charge  of  ' '  treachery  "  to 
Mr.  Seward,  to  whom  he  was  never  under  the  slight 
est  obligation.  He  was  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school, 
who  left  his  party  because  it  had  surrendered  to  the 
Slavery  power ;  and  had  joined  the  Republicans,  but 
had  no  part  in  their  family  quarrels.  But  he  did 
not  take  kindly  to  the  new  creation  in  American 
politics  of  a  "boss,"  who,  with  none  of  the  responsi 
bilities  and  the  restraints  of  office,  assumed  absolute 
control,  setting  up  one  and  putting  down  another  :  and 
his  chief  objection  to  Mr.  Seward  was,  that  if  "This  our 
Caesar"  were  throned  in  the  Capitol,  he  would  have 
his  proconsuls  in  the  provinces,  and  as  the  State  of 


134        THE   TWO   MEN   WHO   WERE   RESPONSIBLE. 

New  York  was  the  richest  ''province"  in  our  American 
empire,  he  saw  a  familiar  figure  sitting  in  the  place  of 
custom,  receiving  tribute,  and  dividing  the  spoils,  in  the 
fine  old  Roman  way. 

In  coupling  together  the  names  of  Horace  Greeley 
and  David  Dudley  Field — for  he  does  not  mention 
another  man — Mr.  Raymond  brings  the  matter  down 
to  a  fine  point,  to  specific  and  definite  personalities,  and 
singles  out  the  two  men  who  in  his  opinion  were  above 
all  others  responsible  for  the  defeat  of  Seward,  and 
the  nomination  of  Lincoln.  That  the  result  was  not 
due  to  Mr.  Greeley  alone,  or  chiefly,  I  have  his  own 
declaration,  for  I  once  spoke  to  him  about  it,  giving  him 
credit  for  the  sudden  change  in  what  seemed  to  be  the 
inevitable  course  of  events,  which  he  disclaimed  as 
doing  him  too  much  honor.  *  This  at  the  moment  sur 
prised  me,  until  I  learned  that  there  was  reason  for  his 
not  assuming  too  much,  since  at  that  dark  hour  when 
he  sent  his  despatch  to  New  York,  he  was  thoroughly 
demoralized  as  to  the  event  of  the  coming  day,  and 


*  Indeed  so  far  was  Mr.  Greeley  from  wishing  to  pose  as  the 
original  Lincoln  man,  that  when  he  went  to  Chicago  he  had 
in  view  another  candidate,  Mr.  Edward  Bates,  an  eminent  law 
yer  of  St.  Louis,  who,  being  in  a  slave  State,  though  only  just 
on  the  border,  would  not  alarm  the  timid  conservatives,  who 
were  frightened  by  the  very  name  of  an  abolitionist,  and  whose 
nomination  might  give  an  impetus  to  emancipation  in  Missouri. 
So  fully  was  he  possessed  with  this  idea  that,  even  after 


A   CRITICAL   SITUATION.  135 

would  have  ' '  thrown  up  the  sponge "  if  he  had  not 
been  literally  ' '  held  up "  by  a  stronger  will  than  his 
own,  and  by  more  unflinching  courage. 

To  see  how  critical  was  the  situation,  that  not  a 
moment  was  to  be  lost,  we  have  to  introduce  another 
witness,  who  will  take  us  farther  on  in  unravelling  the 
mystery  of  Mr.  Seward's  defeat  and  the  nomination  that 
followed.  It  was  midnight :  in  a  few  hours  all  would 
be  over  :  whatever  was  done  must  be  done  quickly. 
It  is  on  the  night  before  a  battle  that  the  battle  is 
planned,  though  it  be  not  till  the  morning  that  it  is  fought 
and  won.  It  is  of  the  preceding  council  of  war  that  our 
new  witness  has  somewhat  to  relate — not  as  a  reporter 
of  what  somebody  else  said  or  did  not  say,  but  of  what 
he  saw  with  his  own  eyes  and  heard  with  his  own  ears. 

This  is  the  late  Mr.  James  A.  Briggs,  a  man  of  the 
best  New  England  stock,  a  nephew  of  Governor  Briggs 
of  Massachusetts,  a  lawyer  by  profession,  who  had  lived 
for  twenty  years  in  Cleveland,  during  which  time  he 
became  an  intimate  personal  and  political  friend  of  Mr. 
Chase.  In  1857  he  removed  to  New  York,  having  his 


Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated,  and  Mr.  Greeley  had  returned  to 
New  York  to  hear  the  shouts  for  "Old  Abe,"  he  was  not  satis 
fied  till  he  had  put  himself  on  record  [in  The  Tribune  of 
May  21st,  1860]  thus:  ''I  think  that  Judge  Bates,  to  whom  I  never 
spoke  nor  wrote,  would  have  been  the  wiser  choice."  This  at 
least  frees  him  from  the  responsibility  of  having  forced  Mr. 
Lincoln  upon  the  Convention. 


136  AN   IMPORTANT    WITNESS. 

home  in  Brooklyn,  from  which,  on  November  1st,  1859, 
he  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln  to  come  and  lecture  in  Plymouth 
Church.  This  was  the  lecture  that  was  finally  given 
in  Cooper  Institute.  Mr.  Briggs  was  an  ardent  Repub 
lican,  and  went  to  the  Chicago  Convention  in  hope  to 
promote  the  nomination  of  his  political  chief.  Here  he 
was  in  a  position  to  have  a  full  inside  view  of  the  move 
ments  of  the  several  divisions  of  the  party  that  were 
struggling  for  the  ascendency,  and  afterwards  felt  it  to 
be  his  duty  to  put  on  record  an  account  of  what  passed 
under  his  own  observation.  It  is  brief,  but  right  to 
the  point.  He  says  : 

' '  I  have  always  thought  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  more 
indebted  to  Mr.  David  Dudley  Field  for  his  nomination 
for  the  Presidency  at  Chicago  in  1860,  than  to  any 
other  one  man.  I  was  present  at  that  Convention 
as  the  friend  of  Mr.  Chase,  but  soon  found  that  the 
nomination  was  to  go  either  to  Mr.  Seward  or  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  then  I  was  for  Mr.  Lincoln. 

' '  I  was  at  the  Tremont  House,  with  Mr.  Field,  Mr. 
Greeley,  Mr.  George  Opdyke,  and  Mr.  Hiram  Barney. 
The  night  before  the  nomination,  about  midnight,  Mr. 
Greeley  came  into  Mr.  Field's  room,  and  threw  himself 
down  with  a  feeling  of  despair,  and  said  '  All  is  lost  ; 
we  are  beaten  ! '  : 

[Mr.  Greeley  was  subject  to  such  sudden  depression, 
and  the  events  of  the  day,  and  the  anticipations  of  the 
morrow,  had  tried  him  to  the  utmost.  He  had  been  all 


COLLAPSE  OF  GREELEY.  137 

the  evening  in  a  state  of  unnatural  excitement,*  which 
ended  in  his  sending  his  message  to  New  York,  from 
which  he  came  back  to  Mr.  Field's  room  to  throw  him 
self  down  in  a  state  of  collapse,  till  a  strong  man  lifted 
him  up  and  set  him  on  his  feet,  and  breathed  new  life 
into  him.  Who  it  was  that  rendered  that  kindly  office, 
I  leave  to  Mr.  Briggs  to  tell  :]  "To  Mr.  Greeley's 
cry  'All  is  lost  ! '  Mr.  Field  replied  '  No,  all  is  not  lost  ! 
Let  us  up  and  go  to  work  ! '  His  energetic  voice  and 
manner  seemed  to  inspire  Mr.  Greeley  with  new  life,, 
and  both  immediately  went  out  to  renew  the  struggle.  | 
Mr.  Field  particularly  worked  with  a  determined  will 


*  When  I  was  looking  about  for  sources  of  information,  Senator 
Dawes  directed  me  to  Mr.  Edward  R.  Tinker,  of  North  Adams, 
Mass.,  'who  was  a  member  of  the  Convention,  and  could  speak 
from  his  personal  knowledge.  Mr.  Tinker  went  on  to  Chicago 
in  the  train  with  some  of  the  delegates  from  New  York,  and 
was  with  them  in  their  quarters  in  the  Tremont  House,  in  what 
Mr.  Weed  called  "The  Conspirators'  Room,"  and  was  in  and 
out  at  all  hours  of  day  and  night.  He  says  that  on  the  night 
before  the  vote  Mr.  Greeley  was  in  a  very  irritable  mood.  As 
the  hours  drew  on,  he  became  more  and  more  excited  over  the 
impending  defeat,  the  blame  of  which  he  charged  upon  others, 
telling  them  that  they  were  throwing  away  their  votes,  at  which 
he  raged  and  stormed,  and  finally  burst  away  and  rushed  to  the 
telegraph  office  to  send  a  message  to  New  York  that  Mr.  Seward 
would  be  nominated  in  the  morning,  and  then,  completely 
exhausted,  returned  to  Mr.  Field's  room,  where  he  found  a  man 
who  was  not  so  easily  dismayed. 


138  DEFEAT    TURNED    TO   VICTORY. 

,and  resolute  purpose  that  seemed  to  know  no  such  word 
I  as  fail.  He  went  from  delegation  to  delegation,  and  as 
!  he  was  from  New  York,  Mr.  Seward's  own  State,  and 
;  yet  was  opposed  to  his  nomination,  he  had  great  influ 
ence  in  turning  the  tide  of  feeling  in  favor  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln.  Before  morning  they  returned  in  high  spirits, 
when  Mr.  Field  said  :  '  The  work  is  done  !  Mr.  Lincoln 
will  be  nominated  ! '  Mr.  Greeley  seemed  equally  con 
fident — a  confidence  which  was  justified  by  the  event. 
But  it  was  in  those  midnight  hours  that  the  work  was 
done.  That  was  the  turning-point  in  that  memorable 
Convention,  and  therefore  a  turning-point  in  the  politi 
cal  history  of  our  country.  For  the  issue  then  reached, 
I  have  always  been  convinced,  from  what  passed  under 
my  own  eyes,  that  more  was  due  to  Mr.  Field  than  to 
any  other  man." 

Here  then  at  last  we  seem  to  have  come  to  the 
Transformation  Scene — to  the  time,  the  place  and  the 
actors.  This  is  the  missing  link  in  the  history  which 
connects  and  explains  all  the  rest.  We  can  well  under 
stand  that  the  delegations  were  debating  among  them 
selves  the  means  of  making  some  combination  without 
which  there  was  not,  and  could  not  be,  any  hope  of 
success,  wavering  this  way  and  that,  when  the  sudden 
inrush  of  two  determined  men  put  an  end  to  the  divis 
ions,  and  led  them  to  form  in  the  ranks  that  led  to  vic 
tory.  I  have  read  many  Lives  of  Lincoln,  and  have 


FURTHER   EVIDENCE.  139 

never  found  any  other  explanation  of  what  transpired 
that  night  that  was  satisfactory  or  even  plausible. 

This  testimony  of  Mr.  Briggs  is  of  the  direct  and 
positive  kind  that  cannot  be  controverted  except  by 
impeaching  a  man's  intelligence  or  his  veracity  ;  and 
coming  right  after  that  of  Mr.  Raymond,  the  one  con 
firms  the  other,  answering  to  the  requirement  of  the 
old  Mosaic  law,  that  ' '  in  the  mouth  of  two  witnesses 
every  word  shall  be  established." 

But  there  is  other  evidence  still,  for  where  brave 
men  lead  the  way,  the  hesitating  and  the  doubting 
follow  ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  what  was  going  on 
was  whispered  from  chamber  to  chamber,  from  dele 
gation  to  delegation,  so  that  when  the  morning  dawned 
there  was  a  general  premonition  of  what  was  to 
come.  As  the  delegates  poured  out  of  the  hotels  on 
their  way  to  the  Convention,  the  elder  Blair,  the  most 
sagacious  politician  in  the  country,  turned  to  Mr.  Field 
and  asked  what  he  thought  would  be  the  result  ?  and 
when  he  said,  "Mr.  Lincoln  will  be  nominated,"  the 
old  man  answered  in  a  very  positive  way,  "  Well,  if 
we  succeed,  it  will  be  owing  to  you  !  ".  And  so  spoke 
New  England  in  the  voice  of  the  gallant  Anson  Bur- 
lingame,  who,  after  the  decisive  vote  was  taken,  came  to 
Mr.  Field,  as  he  was  sitting  on  the  platform,  and  said, 
"You  have  nominated  Mr.  Lincoln:  now  help  us  to 
nominate  the  '  bobbin-boy ' "  [Governor  Banks,  of  Mas 
sachusetts]  "for  Vice- President  !  " 


140  A   CHAPTER   OF   UNWRITTEN   HISTORY. 

Nor  was  this  the  observation  of  but  a  few  indi 
viduals  :  it  was  common  talk  among  the  delegates, 
and  those  who  had  watched  the  course  of  events. 
In  the  train  that  brought  home  many  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Convention,  and  others  who  had  been  spec 
tators,  was  Mr.  Clarkson  N.  Potter,  of  1ST ew  York,  after 
wards  Member  of  Congress,  who  told  his  friends  that 
he  saw  and  heard  one  and  another  pointing  to  Mr. 
Field,  and  whispering,  ' '  That  is  the  man  who  nom 
inated  Lincoln  !  "  This  general  rumor  is  a  sort  of 
presumptive  evidence,  which,  when  confirmed  by  divers 
witnesses,  outweighs  any  number  of  negatives,  which 
merely  tell  what  this  or  that  man  did  not  see  or  hear, 
and,  in  the  absence  of  all  opposing  testimony,  must 
be  considered  to  decide  the  question. 

If  I  thus  recall  a  chapter  of  unwritten  history,  it  is 
not  that  I  wish  to  magnify  the  part  of  an  individual  ; 
nor  that  he  ever  made  any  claim  to  recognition  on 
account  of  it,  (a  brave  soldier  is  more  concerned  to  win 
the  battle  than  to  dispute  for  the  honors  of  victory)  ;  but 
that,  since  it  has  fallen  to  me  to  write  the  life  of  one 
who  had  a  part  in  this  making  of  history,  I  put  on 
record  the  testimony  of  others,  as  but  just  to  the  mem 
ory  of  him  who  has  passed  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
earthly  ambition. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  LAST  EFFORT  FOR  PEACE. 

It  is  a  brave  man  who  can  take  the  consequences 
of  his  own  acts.  Mr.  Field  had  helped  to  nominate 
Lincoln,  and  to  elect  him,  and  he  must  bear  his  share 
of  the  responsibility.  The  country  was  now  to  face  a 
crisis  such  as  it  had  never  faced  before.  The  clouds 
began  to  roll  up  from  the  South  and  gather  all  round 
the  horizon,  till  many  at  the  North  were  frightened  at 
the  prospect,  and  loudly  declared  that  the  election  of 
Lincoln  was  at  once  a  blunder  and  a  crime  ! 

Against  all  such  harsh  judgments,  or  fearful  por 
tents,  Mr.  Field  stood  firm,  prepared  to  show  that  it 
was  neither  a  blunder  nor  a  crime  ;  that  it  was  the 
only  course  that  could  bring  a  peace  worth  having,  and 
re-establish  the  Republic  on  everlasting  foundations. 

It  was  something  to  have  the  issue  clearly  drawn. 
Mr.  Seward  had  predicted  an  "irrepressible  conflict," but 
all  good  men  joined  in  the  prayer,  ''Give  peace  in  our 
time,  O  Lord  !  "  But  how  could  the  conflict  be  kept 
back  much  longer  ?  The  country  was  growing  ;  the 
population  was  increasing  by  millions,  and  the  South, 


142  THE   WARNING   OF   DANGER. 

with  its  ' '  peculiar  institutions, "  demanded  the  right  of 
way  wherever  it  would  go.  Forty  years  before  an 
effort  had  been  made  to  divide  the  country  by  the  line 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  but  that  had  been  broken 
down,  and  now  the  South  claimed  tlio  right,  not  only 
to  march  Westward  up  to  a  fixed  parallel  of  lati 
tude,  but  beyond  it  along  the  mighty  courses  of  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Missouri,  stopped  by  no  barrier  of 
river,  or  plain,  or  mountain,  till  it  reached  the  Western 
Sea. 

But  the  election  of  Lincoln  was  a  danger-signal — a 
warning  not  to  go  too  far  !  Not  that  he  had  any  design 
to  encroach  upon  the  South.  He  had  no  such  aversion 
to  slavery  as  a  New  Englander  might  have,  for  he  was 
born  in  a  slave  State,  and  looked  upon  slavery  as  a  con 
dition  for  which  the  present  generation  was  not  responsi 
ble,  and  that  was  to  be  tolerated  where  it  existed  before. 
He  would  observe  religiously  all  the  compromises  of 
the  Constitution.  But  beyond  that  he  could  not,  and 
would  not,  go  :  he  would  not  do  violence  to  his  com 
mon  sense  in  regarding  slavery  as  belonging  to  an 
ideal  state  of  society  ;  nor  was  he  ready  to  see  the  Free 
States  of  America  converted  into  a  great  Slave  Empire  ! 
But  the  South  was  not  willing  to  wait  to  see  the  new 
President  installed  in  office  :  it  looked  upon  his  election 
as  a  threat,  which  it  must  meet  in  a  tone  of  defiance. 
It  demanded  as  the  price  of  its  remaining  in  the  Union 
new  concessions,  new  guarantees,  for  slavery  ;  that  no 


"PEACE  AT  ANY  PRICE  !"  143 

bounds  should  be  set  to  its  extension  now,  or  in  any 
future  time.  This  was  putting  the  pride  of  the  North 
to  the  utmost  strain.  Yet  such  was  the  desire  for 
peace — peace  at  any  price — that  it  was  willing  to  sub 
mit  to  almost  any  conditions.  Even  Mr.  Seward, 
opposed  in  theory  to  slavery  as  he  was,  was  ready  that 
we  should  bind  ourselves  hand  and  foot  by  such  an  iron 
chain  as  this  :  ' '  No  amendment  shall  be  made  to  the 
Constitution  which  will  authorize  or  give  to  Congress 
the  power  to  abolish  or  interfere  within  any  State 
with  the  domestic  institutions  "  [a  synonym  for  slavery] 
"thereof,  including  that  of  persons,"  [how  carefully 
they  avoided  the  word  slaves  /]  "held  to  labor  or  ser 
vice  by  the  laws  of  said  State  "  ! 

And  this  resolution  was  adopted  in  the  Senate  by  a 
two- thirds  vote,  24  to  12,  and  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  by  a  little  more  than  two-thirds,  133  to  65. 
Could  the  spirit  of  concession  farther  go  ? 

But  the  South  would  not  be  pacified ;  it  would  not 
listen  to  anything.  Scarcely  had  the  result  of  the  elec 
tion  been  declared — to  be  exact,  only  six  weeks  later, 
December  24th — when  South  Carolina,  which  John  C. 
Calhoun  had  long  since  familiarized  with  the  idea  of 
separation,  took  the  lead,  as  if  ambitious  of  the  place 
of  honor,  in  a  formal  act  of  its  Legislature,  by  which 
it  seceded  from  the  Union,  and  the  Governor  issued 
his  proclamation  declaring  South  Carolina  to  be  a 
"separate,  sovereign,  and  independent  State  !  " 


144  THE    SOUTHERN    STATES   SECEDE. 

This  was  a  revolution,  but  one  for  which  she  had 
been  long  preparing.  Her  public  men  did  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  it  was  but  the  culmination  of  events  for  a 
long  course  of  years.  Mr.  Rhett,  an  old  politician,  said, 
' '  The  secession  of  South  Carolina  is  not  the  event  of 
a  day.  It  was  not  caused  by  Lincoln's  election,  nor 
by  the  non-execution  of  the  fugitive  slave  law.  It  is 
a  matter  which  has  been  gathering  for  thirty  years. 
The  election  of  Lincoln  was  only  the  last  straw  that 
broke  the  camel's  back.  But  it  was  not  the  only  one. 
The  back  was  nearly  broken  before  !  " 

With  such  unpleasant  memories  of  the  past,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  South  Carolina  felt  the  step  she  took  to 
be  a  happy  deliverance.  She  did  not  stand  upon  the 
order  of  her  going.  If  she  had  waited  a  little  longer, 
with  a  show  of  hesitation  and  reluctance,  it  would  have 
given  a  touch  of  formality  and  of  grace  to  her  good-bye 
to  the  sisters  with  whom  she  had  been  so  long  asso 
ciated.  But  she  had  no  farewells  to  give,  and  no  tears 
to  shed.  So  far  from  this,  she  was  in  a  happy  mood, 
and  danced  away  with  that  "gayety  of  heart"  with 
which  France  ten  years  later  rushed  into  war  with 
Germany  !  The  parallel  might  be  carried  still  further  ! 

The  business  of  secession  once  begun,  the  work  went 
on  briskly.  Two  weeks  later,  with  the  opening  of  the 
new  year,  1861,  Mississippi  followed  the  example  of 
South  Carolina.  Two  days  later  Alabama  and  Florida 
locked  arms  and  went  out  together  ;  to  be  followed 


THE   PEACE   CONFERENCE.  145 

near  the  close  of  the  month  by  Louisiana  ;  and  last  of 
all,  on  the  5th  of  February,  by  Texas,  the  mighty  State, 
for  which  we  had  gone  to  war  with  Mexico.  Georgia, 
which  was  kept  back  by  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  came 
a  little  later  and  filled  up  the  procession  of  States  that 
marched  out  of  the  Union  before  Mr.  Lincoln  had  taken 
his  seat  in  the  Presidential  chair  ! 

But  the  procession  was  not  yet  full.  Virginia,  the 
mother  of  Presidents,  stood  on  her  dignity,  not  to  be  run 
away  with  by  less  important  States,  and  chose  to  act 
for  herself.  With  the  old  memories  of  the  Revolution 
in  her  heart,  she  lingered,  and  finally  decided,  before 
taking  the  last  step,  to  make  one  more  effort  for  peace, 
by  way  of  a  friendly  Conference  in  Washington,  to 
see  if  it  were  not  possible  to  agree  on  some  method  of 
adjustment.  It  was  a  novel  proceeding  to  go  outside  of 
Congress,  to  submit  grave  questions  to  a  body  having 
110  legal  authority.  But  the  North  did  not  stand  upon 
formalities,  if  only  it  might  bring  peace,  and  it  responded 
promptly  to  the  call.  As  none  of  the  seceded  States 
were  parties  to  it,  only  twenty-one  States  were  rep 
resented,  but  these  sent  133  delegates — a  body  that  was 
not  only  respectable  in  numbers,  but  one  of  great  dig 
nity  in  the  men  that  composed  it,  and  that  was  pre 
sided  over  by  one  who  was  himself  a  Virginian,  as 
well  as  a  former  President  of  the  United  States,  Mr. 
John  Tyler.  A  committee  composed  of  one  from  each 
State,  twenty-one  in  all,  was  appointed  ' '  with  authority 


146  CHANGES   IN   THE   CONSTITUTION. 

to  report  what  they  might  deem  right,  necessary,  and 
proper  to  restore  harmony  and  preserve  the  Union." 
Of  this  committee  Mr.  Field  was  a  member,  a  position 
to  which  he  was  entitled  as  the  chairman  of  the  New 
York  delegation.  Thus  he  was  forced  into  the  place  of 
a  leader,  though  the  part  of  the  North  was  not  to  pro 
pose,  but  to  listen.  As  it  had  only  exercised  its  right 
ful  authority  in  voting  for  a  President,  and  was  satisfied 
with  the  result,  it  had  nothing  to  say  except  to  repeat, 
with  increased  emphasis,  its  readiness  and  determination 
to  stand  by  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution. 

But  that  was  not  enough,  for  the  South  had  been 
going  through  an  education  in  its  ideas  of  slavery,  until 
it  came  to  regard  it  as  so  far  from  being  an  evil  that  it 
was  a  positive  good,  an  institution  that  was  according 
to  the  fitness  of  things  ;  ordained  by  nature  itself,  as 
shown  in  the  natural  superiority  of  the  white  race. 
Thus  exalted  by  conscious  greatness,  the  men  of  the 
South  were  not  at  all  abashed  at  the  boldness 
of  the  undertaking  to  make  radical  changes  in  the 
Constitution,  that  had  been  framed  by  Washington, 
Franklin,  Madison,  and  Hamilton.  Slavery  must  be 
"  unconfined  "  ;  it  must  have  full  sweep.  Into  whatever 
territory  a  master  emigrated,  he  must  have  freedom 
to  take  his  slaves  with  him  ;  and  if,  when  the  popula 
tion  was  sufficient  for  statehood,  the  majority  were 
for  slavery,  slavery  they  should  have,  no  power  on 
earth  withstanding  ! 


A   NEW   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW.  147 

And  there  must  be  a  new  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
with  all  the  modern  improvements  !  If  a  master 
wished  to  go  to  Boston,  he  must  be  free  to  take  his 
black  man-servant  with  him,  and  if  the  latter,  snuffing 
the  air  of  liberty,  were  to  run  away,  the  city  police 
must  find  him  and  deliver  him  up  to  his  master  !  He 
might  not  be  hunted  with  bloodhounds,  but  all  the  min 
ions  of  the  law  would  be  on  his  track  ;  and  if  he  could 
not  be  found,  the  city  or  State  must  pay  for  his  loss  ! 

Even  this  would  not  satisfy  the  South.  What  most 
galled  the  Southern  people  was  not  the  loss  of  a  slave 
now  and  then,  but  the  fact  that  they  could  not  bring 
the  North  to  see  things  as  they  saw  them.  They  must 
do  violence  to  our  consciences,  compelling  us  to  accept 
as  right  what  we  believed  to  be  wrong  ;  to  call  evil 
good  and  good  evil.  This  was  asking  us  to  stifle 
the  instincts  of  humanity.  They  might  as  well  have 
demanded  that  we  should  stop  the  beating  of  our  hearts. 

Had  it  been  possible  to  comply  with  these  conditions, 
even  then  the  seceding  States  gave  no  promise  of  return 
to  the  Union,  nor  had  their  sister  States  any  authority  to 
make  it  for  them.  All  that  could  be  said  was  that  they 
would  (if  they  saw  fit)  take  it  into  respectful  (or  not 
respectful)  consideration.  They  might  come  back,  or 
they  might  not  even  take  notice  of  the  invitation.  But 
if  they  did  return,  it  would  not  be  by  any  means  as 
prodigal  sons,  with  penitence  for  the  past,  or  promise 
for  the  future.  If  they  came  at  all,  it  would  be  as  mas- 


148  HARD    CONDITIONS    FOR   PEACE. 

ters  iii  the  old  baronial  halls.  If  there  was  any  repent 
ing  to  be  done,  it  must  be  by  those  upon  whose  tame 
and  cowardly  spirits  they  looked  down  with  just  con 
tempt. 

These  were  indeed  hard  conditions  of  peace,  conditions 
that  we  cannot  read,  even  at  this  distance  of  time,  with 
out  being  almost  ashamed  of  our  country.  And  yet  to 
this  degree  of  humiliation  a  large  portion  of  the  North — 
God  forgive  them  ! — were  ready  to  submit. 

Mr.  Field  had  listened  with  as  much  patience  as  he 
could  to  these  extraordinary  proposals.  But  while  he 
listened  the  fire  burned,  and  he  could  not  keep  silence. 
Time  was  passing.  It  was  the  20th  of  February,  and 
in  less  than  two  weeks  there  would  be  a  new  govern 
ment  in  the  Capitol.  He  must  give  warning  of  the 
impending  danger.  With  perfect  courtesy  to  his  oppo 
nents,  but  with  a  firmness  that  could  not  but  command 
their  respect,  he  set  forth  the  position  of  the  North  in  a 
speech  which  ought  to  be  preserved  in  every  historical 
library,  as  it  was  an  historic  scene,  the  last  effort  for 
peace  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  most  terrible 
civil  war  of  modern  times  !  As  he  rose  to  speak  he 
felt  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  It  was  not  in  his 
nature  to  be  a  prophet  of  evil  ;  but  lightly  as  some 
talked  of  it,  he  felt  that  the  government,  and  the  coun 
try  itself,  were  in  danger  of  going  to  pieces,  and  he 
spoke  with  a  sad  sincerity,  which  those  who  heard 
remembered  long  after.  He  did  not  assume  to  speak 


-    SPEECH   OF   MR.    FIELD.  149 

for   others,  but   his  own  position  he  would  not   have 
misunderstood,  and  he   "cleared  the  air"  in  the  very! 
first  sentence  :   ' '  For  myself,  I  state  at  the  outset  that  J 
I  am  indisposed  to  the  adoption,  at  the  present  time, 
of   any  amendment  of  the   Constitution."      This  was 
sufficiently  explicit.     And  now  he  proceeds  to  give  the 
Reason  Why  : 

To  change  the  original  law  of  thirty  millions  of  people 
is  a  measure  of  the  greatest  importance.  Such  a  measure 
should  never  be  undertaken  in  any  case,  or  under  any  circum 
stances,  without  great  deliberation  and  the  highest  moral  cer 
tainty  that  the  country  will  be  benefited  by  the  change.  In  this 
case,  as  yet,  there  has  been  no  deliberation  ;  certainly  not  so  far 
as  the  delegates  from  New  York  are  concerned.  The  resolutions 
of  Virginia  were  passed  on  the  19th  of  January.  New  York 
{ her  Legislature  being  in  session )  appointed  her  delegates  on  the 
5th  of  February.  We  came  here  on  the  8th.  Our  delegation 
was  not  full  for  a  week.  The  amendments  proposed  were  sub 
mitted  on  the  15th.  It  is  now  the  20th  of  the  month.  We  are 
urged  to  act  at  once,  without  further  deliberation  or  delay. 

To  found  an  Empire,  or  to  make  a  Constitution  for  a  peo 
ple,  on  which  so  much  of  their  happiness  depends,  requires  the 
sublimest  effort  of  the  human  intellect,  the  greatest  impartiality 
in  weighing  opposing  interests,  the  utmost  calmness  in  judg 
ment,  the  highest  prudence  in  decision.  It  is  proposed  that  we 
shall  proceed  to  amend  in  essential  particulars  a  Constitution 
which,  since  its  adoption  by  the  people  of  this  country,  has 
answered  all  its  needs,  with  a  haste  which  to  my  mind  is  un 
necessary,  not  to  say  indecent. 

Have  any  defects  been  discovered  in  this  Constitution  ?  I 
have  listened  most  attentively  to  hear  those  defects  mentioned, 


150      THE   CONSTITUTION   GOOD   ENOUGH   AS   IT   IS. 

if  any  such  have  been  found  to  exist.  I  have  heard  none.  No 
change  in  the  judicial  department  is  suggested.  The  exercise 
of  judicial  powers  under  the  Constitution  has  been  satisfactory 
enough  to  the  South.  The  judicial  department  is  to  be  left  un 
touched,  as  I  think  it  should  be.  You  propose  no  change  in  the 
form  of  the  executive  or  legislative  departments.  These  you 
leave  as  they  were  before.  What  you  do  propose  is  :  to  place 
certain  limitations  upon  the  legislative  power  ;  to  prohibit  legis 
lation  upon  certain  important  subjects  ;  to  give  new  guarantees 
to  slavery  ;  and  this,  as  you  admit,  before  any  person  has  been 
injured,  before  any  right  has  been  infringed. 

There  is  high  authority,  which  ought  to  be  satisfactory  to 
you — that  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  now  in  office  ! — 
for  the  statement  that  Congress  never  undertook  to  pass  an  un 
constitutional  law  affecting  the  interests  of  slavery  except  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  Well,  you  have  repealed  that !  You  have 
also  every  assurance  that  can  be  given,  that  the  Administration 
about  coming  into  power  proposes  no  interference  with  your  in 
stitutions  within  State  limits.  Can  you  not  be  satisfied  with 
that  ?  No  !  You  propose  these  amendments  in  advance.  You 
insist  upon  them,  and  you  declare  that  you  must  and  will  have 
them,  or  certain  consequences  must  follow.  But,  gentlemen  of 
the  South,  what  reasons  do  you  give  for  entering  upon  this 
hasty,  this  precipitate  action?  You  say  it  is  the  prevailing 
sense  of  insecurity,  the  anxiety,  the  apprehension  you  feel  lest 
something  awful,  something  unconstitutional,  may  be  done. 
Yet  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Seddon)  tells  us  that  Vir 
ginia  is  able  to  protect  all  who  reside  within  her  limits,  and  that 
she  will  do  so  at  all  hazards.  Why  not  tell  us  the  truth  outright  ? 
It  is  not  action  under  the  Constitution  or  in  Congress  that  you 
would  prevent.  What  is  it  then  ?  You  are  determined  to  pre 
vent  the  agitation  of  the  subject.  Let  us  understand  each 


ARGUMENT  BY   QUESTION.  151 

other.  You  have  called  us  here  to  prevent  future  discussion  of 
the  subject  of  slavery.  It  is  that  you  fear — it  is  that  you 
\vould  avoid — discussion  in  Congress,  in  the  State  Legislatures, 
in  the  newspapers,  in  popular  assemblies. 

[The  reader  will  observe  the  peculiar  style  of  the 
speaker,  in  which  he  argues  by  questions,  short  and 
sharp,  that  he  rains  upon  his  opponents  as  if  from  a 
battery  or  a  mitrailleuse,  to  which  they  can  make  no 
reply — a  mode  of  attack  upon  dangerous  sophistry  that 
has  been  held  in  honor  from  the  days  of  Socrates.  ] 

But  will  the  plan  you  propose,  the  course  you  have  marked 
out,  accomplish  your  purpose  ?  Will  it  stop  discussion  ?  Will 
it  lessen  it  in  the  slightest  degree  ?  Can  you  not  profit  by  the 
experience  of  the  past  ?  Can  you  prevent  an  agitation  of  this 
subject,  or  any  other,  by  any  constitutional  provisions  ?  No  1 
Look  at  the  details  of  your  scheme.  You  propose  through  the 
Constitution  to  require  payment  for  fugitive  slaves — to  make 
the  North  pay  for  them.  You  are  thus  throwing  a  lighted  fire 
brand  not  only  into  Congress,  but  into  every  State  Legislature, 
into  every  county,  city,  and  village  in  the  land. 

This  one  proposition  to  pay  for  fugitive  slaves  will  prove  a 
subject  for  almost  irrepressible  agitation.  You  say  to  the  State 
Legislatures,  "  You  shall  not  obstruct  the  rendition  of  fugitives 
from  service,  but  you  may  legislate  in  aid  of  their  rendition  " — 
thereby  implying  that  the  latter  kind  of  legislation  will  be  their 
duty.  You  thus  provide  a  new  subject  for  discussion  and  agi 
tation  for  all  these  Legislatures.  In  the  border  States  especially, 
such  as  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  you  will  find  this  agitation 
fiercer  than  any  you  have  hitherto  witnessed,  of  which  you 
complain  so  much.  You  will  add  to  the  flams  until  it  becomes 
a  consuming  fire. 


152  YOU   CANNOT   STOP   DISCUSSION. 

You  propose  to  stop  the  discussion  of  these  questions  by  the 
press.  Do  you  really  believe  that  in  this  age  of  the  world  you 
can  accomplish  that  ?  You  know  little  of  history  if  such  is 
your  belief.  Free  speech  is  stronger  than  constitutions  and  dy 
nasties.  You  might  as  well  put  your  hands  over  the  crater  of  a 
burning  volcano,  to  extinguish  its  flames,  as  io  attempt  to  stop 
discussion  by  such  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution.  Stop  dis 
cussion  of  great  questions  affecting  the  policy,  strength,  and 
prosperity  of  the  Government  ?  You  cannot  do  it !  You  ought 
not  to  attempt  to  do  it  ! 

I  wish  to  speak  kindly  upon  this  subject.  I  entertain  no  un 
friendly  feelings  toward  any  section.  But  while  you  are  thus 
complaining  of  us  in  the  free  States,  because  we  agitate  and  dis 
cuss  the  question  of  slavery,  are  you  not,  in  a  great  degree,  re 
sponsible  for  this  agitation  yourselves  ?  Do  you  not  discuss  it 
and  agitate  it  ?  Do  you  not  make  slavery  the  subject  of  your 
speeches  in  the  South,  and  in  the  presence  of  your  slaves  ?  Do 
you  not  make  charges  against  us,  which  in  your  cooler  moments 
you  know  to  be  unfounded  ?  Do  you  not  charge  us  in  the  hear 
ing  of  your  slaves  with  the  design  of  interfering  with  slavery  in 
the  States,  with  a  design  to  free  them  if  we  succeed  ? 

All  this  you  have  done,  and  if  discontent,  anxiety,  and  mis 
trust  exist  among  your  people,  such  discussion  has  contributed 
more  to  produce  them  than  all  the  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question  at  the  North.  But  your  amendments  are  not  pointed 
at  your  discussions  !  That  kind  of  agitation  may  go  on  as 
before.  It  is  only  the  discussion  on  the  other  side  that  you 
would  repress  ! 

If  the  condition  of  affairs  among  you  is  as  you  represent  it, 
have  you  no  duties  to  perform  ?  Is  there  nothing  for  you  to  do  ? 
Should  you  not  tell  your  people  what  we  have  assured  you  upon 
every  proper  occasion,  that  the  Republican  party  has  always  re- 


WE   ARE   STILL   FOR   PEACE,    IF   POSSIBLE.  153 

pudiated  the  intention  of  interfering  with  slavery,  or  any  other 
Southern  institution,  within  the  States  ?  This  you  all  know. 
Have  you  told  your  people  this  ?  If  you  would  explain  it  to 
them  now,  would  they  not  be  quieted  ?  Do  not  reply  that  they 
believe  we  have  such  a  purpose.  Who  is  responsible  for  that  be 
lief  ?  Have  you  not  continually  asserted  before  your  people, 
notwithstanding  every  assurance  we  could  give  you  to  the  con 
trary,  that  we  are  determined  to  interfere  with  your  rights  ?  It 
is  thus  the  responsibility  rests  with  you. 

Although  such  is  my  conviction,  supported,  as  I  think,  by  all 
the  evidence,  I  am  still  for  peace.  Show  me  now  any  proposi 
tion  that  will  secure  peace,  and  I  will  go  for  it  if  I  can.  We 
came  here  to  take  each  other  by  the  hand,  to  compare  views, 
explain,  consult.  We  meet  you  in  the  most  reasonable  spirit. 
Anything  that  honorable  men  may  do,  we  will  do. 

We  will  go  back  to  1845  when  you  admitted  Texas  ;  back  to 
the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820.  You  certainly  can  complain 
of  nothing  previous  to  that  time.  If,  since  then,  there  has  been 
any  law  of  Congress  passed  which  is  unjust  toward  you,  which 
infringes  upon  your  rights,  which  operates  unfairly  upon  your 
interests,  we  will  join  you  in  securing  its  repeal.  We  will  go 
further.  If  you  will  point  out  any  act  of  the  Republican  party 
which  has  given  you  just  cause  for  apprehension,  we  will  give 
you  all  security  against  it.  We  will  do  anything  but  amend  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  government.  Before  we  do  that  we 
must  be  convinced  of  its  necessity. 

When  you  propose  essential  changes  in  the  Constitution  you 
must  expect  that  they  will  be  subjected  to  a  critical  examina 
tion;  if  not  here,  certainly  elsewhere.  I  object  to  those  pro 
posed  by  the  majority  of  the  committee — 

1.  For  what  they  contain,  and 

2.  For  what  they  do  not  contain. 


154   HOW  THE  FATHERS  LOOKED  UPON  SLAVERY. 

I  do  not  propose  to  criticise  the  language  used  in  your  propo 
sitions  of  amendment.  That  would  be  trifling.  I  think  the 
language  very  infelicitous,  and,  if  I  supposed  those  propositions 
were  to  become  part  of  the  Constitution,  I  should  think  many 
verbal  changes  indispensable ;  But  I  pass  by  all  that,  and  come 
at  once  to  the  substance. 

I  object  to  the  propositions,  Sir,  because  they  would  put  into 
the  Constitution  neiv  expressions  relating  to  slavery,  which  were 
sedulously  kept  out  of  it  by  the  framers  of  that  instrument — left 
out  of  it,  not  accidentally,  but  because,  as  Madison  said,  they 
did  not  ivish  posterity  to  know  from  the  Constitution  that  the 
institution  existed. 

But  I  object  further,  because  the  propositions  contain 
guarantees  for  slavery,  which  our  fathers  did  not  and  would  not 
give.  In  1787  the  Convention  was  held  at  Philadelphia  to  estab 
lish  our  form  of  government.  Washington  was  its  presiding 
officer,  "whose  name  was  in  itself  a  bond  of  union.  It  was  soon 
after  the  close  of  a  long  and  bloody  war.  Shoulder  to  shoulder 
— through  \vinter  snows  and  beneath  summer  suns — through 
such  sufferings  and  sacrifices  as  the  world  had  scarcely  ever 
witnessed — the  people  of  these  States,  under  Providence,  had 
fought  and  achieved  their  independence.  Fresh  from  the  field, 
their  hearts  full  of  patriotism,  determined  to  perpetuate  the 
liberties  they  had  achieved,  the  people  sent  their  delegates  into 
the  Convention  to  frame  a  Constitution  which  would  preserve  to 
their  posterity  the  blessings  they  had  won. 

These  delegates,  under  the  presidency  of  Washington,  aided 
by  the  counsels  of  Franklin  and  Madison,  considered  the  very 
questions  with  which  we  are  now  dealing,  and  they  refused  to  put 
into  the  Constitution  "which  they  were  making  such  guarantees 
to  slavery  as  you  now  ask  from  their  descendants.  That  is  my 
interpretation  of  their  action.  Either  these  guarantees  are  in 


WE   WILL   GIVE   NO   NEW   GUARANTEES.  155 

the  Constitution,  or  they  are  not.  If  they  are  there,  let  them 
remain  there.  If  they  are  not  there,  I  can  conceive  of  no  possi 
ble  circumstances  under  which  I  would  consent  to  admit  them. 

Mr.  MOREHEAD  :     Not  to  save  the  Union  ? 

Mr.  FIELD  :    No,  sir — no  I     That  is  my  comprehensive  answer. 

Mr.  MOREHEAD  :     Then  you  would  let  the  Union  slide  ? 

Mr.  FIELD  :  No,  never  !  I  would  let  slavery  slide,  and  save 
the  Union.  Greater  things  than  this  have  been  done.  This  year 
has  seen  slavery  abolished  in  all  the  Russias. 

Mr.  ROMAN:  Do  you  think  it  better  to  have  the  free  and 
slave  States  separated,  and  to  have  the  Union  dissolved  ? 

Mr.  FIELD  :  I  would  sacrifice  all  I  have — lay  down  my  life, 
for  the  Union.  But  I  will  not  give  these  guarantees  to  slavery. 
If  the  Union  cannot  be  preserved  without  them,  it  can  not  long 
be  preserved  with  them.  Let  me  ask  you  if  you  will  recommend 
to  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  in  case  these  guarantees 
are  conceded,  to  accept  them,  and  abide  by  their  obligations  to 
the  Union  ?  You  answer,  Yes  !  Do  you  suppose  you  can  induce 
the  seceded  States  to  return  ?  You  answer,  We  do  not  know  ! 
What  will  you  yourselves  do  if,  after  all,  they  refuse  ?  Your 
answer  is,  "  We  will  go  ivith  them!" 

Then  we  are  to  understand  that  this  is  the  language  of  the 
slave  States,  which  have  not  seceded,  toward  the  free  States  : 
"  If  you  will  support  our  amendments,  we  will  try  to  induce  the 
seceded  States  to  return  to  the  Union.  We  rather  think  we  can 
induce  them  to  return ;  but,  if  we  can  not,  then  we  will  go  with 
them  !  " 

What  is  to  be  done  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
while  you  are  trying  this  experiment  ?  The  seceded  States  are 
organizing  a  government  with  all  its  departments.  They  are 
levying  taxes,  raising  military  forces,  and  engaging  in  commerce 
with  foreign  nations,  in  plain  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the 


156  THERE  IS  NO   MIDDLE   GROUND. 

Constitution.  If  this  condition  of  affairs  lasts  six  months  lon 
ger,  France  and  England  will  recognize  theirs  as  a  government 
de  facto.  Do  you  suppose  we  will  submit  to  this,  that  we  can 
submit  to  it  ? 

I  speak  only  for  myself.  I  undertake  to  commit  no  one  but 
myself;  but  I  here  declare  that  an  Administration  which  fails  to 
assert  by  force  its  authority  over  the  whole  country  will  be  a 
disgrace  to  the  nation.  There  is  no  middle  ground;  we  must 
keep  this  country  unbroken,  or  ice  give  it  up  to  ruin  I 

We  are  told  that  one  State  has  a  hundred  thousand  men 
ready  for  the  field,  and  if  we  do  not  assent  to  these  propositions 
she  will  fight  us.  If  I  believed  this  to  be  true,  I  would  not  con 
sent  to  treat  on  any  terms. 

From  the  ports  of  these  seceded  States  have  sailed  all  the  fili 
bustering  expeditions  which  have  heretofore  disgraced  the  land. 
Their  new  government  will  enter  upon  a  career  of  conquest  un 
less  prevented.  Even  if  these  propositions  of  amendment  are 
received  and  submitted  to  the  people,  I  see  nothing  but  war  in 
the  future,  unless  those  States  are  quickly  brought  back  to  their 
allegiance. 

I  do  not  propose  to  use  harsh  language.  I  will  not  stigmatize 
thissConvention  as  a  political  body,  or  assert  that  this  is  a  move 
ment  toward  a  revolution  counter  to  a  political  revolution  just 
accomplished  by  the  elections.  Nor  will  I  speak  of  personal 
liberty  bills,  or  of  Northern  State  legislation,  about  which  so 
much  complaint  has  been  made.  If  I  went  into  those  questions, 
much  might  be  said  on  both  sides.  We  might  ask  you  whether 
you  had  not  thrown  stones  at  us  ! 

[Then,  turning  to  the  second  part  of  his  argument, 
Mr.  Field  wished  his  Southern  brethren  to  understand 
that,  if  they  were  to  enter  upon  amendments  of  the 


RIGHT   OF   THE   NORTH   TO    PROTECTION.  157 

Constitution,  the  North  had  concessions  to  ask  as  well 
as  to  give  ;  that  it  might  at  least  demand  protection 
for  its  citizens  when  they  visited  the  South.  At  present 
a  man  from  Massachusetts  or  Vermont  could  hardly 
cross  the  line  without  danger  of  insult  or  of  violence, 
unless  he  professed  entire  satisfaction  with  the  patriar 
chal  institution.  If  he  saw  slaves  sold  on  the  block  or 
flogged  on  a  plantation,  he  must  suppress  his  indig 
nation,  or  he  would  be  mobbed  !  Mr.  Hoar,  an  emi 
nent  citizen  of  Boston,  who  went  to  Charleston  to  attend 
to  a  legal  case  involving  the  rights  of  a  Northerner, 
was  driven  out  of  the  city,  and  hardly  escaped  without 
a  personal  attack.  With  the  memory  of  such  treatment 
in  mind,  Mr.  Field  proceeds  :  ] 

As  to  what  is  left  out  in  the  plan  of  reconciliation,  the 
majority  report  altogether  omits  those  guarantees  which,  if 
the  Constitution  is  to  be  amended,  ought  to  be  there  before  any 
others  that  have  been  suggested.  I  mean  those  which  will 
secure  protection  in  the  South  to  the  citizens  of  the  free  States, 
and  those  which  will  protect  the  Union  against  future  attempts 
at  secession ;  guarantees  which  are  contained  in  the  propositions 
that  I  have  submitted  as  proper  to  be  added  to  the  report  of  the 
majority. 

But,  Sir,  I  must  insist  that,  if  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
are  required  at  all,  it  is  better  that  they  should  be  proposed  and 
considered  in  a  General  Convention.  Although  I  do  not  regard 
this  Conference  as  exactly  unconstitutional,  it  is  certainly  a  bad 
precedent.  It  is  a  body  nominally  composed  of  representatives 
of  the  States,  and  is  called  to  urge  upon  Congress  propositions 


158     BETTER  TO   HAVE   A   GENERAL   CONVENTION. 

of  amendment  to  the  Constitution.  Its  recommendations  will 
have  something  of  force  in  them ;  it  will  undoubtedly  be  claimed 
for  them  in  Congress  that  they  possess  such  force.  I  do  not  like 
to  see  an  irregular  body  sitting  by  the  side  of  a  legislative  body 
and  attempting  to  influence  its  action. 

Again,  all  the  States  are  not  here.  Oregon  and  California— 
the  great  Pacific  dominions,  with  all  their  wealth  and  power, 
present  and  prospective — have  not  been  consulted  at  all.  Will 
it  be  replied  that  all  the  States  can  vote  upon  the  amendment  ? 
That  is  a  very  different  thing  from  proposing  them.  California 
and  Oregon  may  have  interests  of  their  own  to  protect,  proposi 
tions  of  their  own  to  make.  Is  it  right  for  us  to  act  without 
consulting  them  ?  I  will  go  for  a  Convention,  because  I  believe 
it  is  the  best  way  to  avoid  civil  war. 

Mr.  WICKLIFFE:  If  a  General  Convention  is  held,  what 
amendments  will  you  propose  ? 

Mr.  FIELD  :  I  have  already  said  that  I  have  none  to  propose. 
I  am  satisfied  with  the  Constitution  as  it  is. 

Mr.  WICKLIFFE:  Then,  for  God's  sake,  let  us  have  no  Gen 
eral  Convention  ! 

Mr.  FIELD  :  I  think  the  gentleman's  observation  is  not  logi 
cal.  He  wants  amendments,  I  do  not.  But  I  say,  if  we  are  to 
have  them,  let  us  have  them  through  a  General  Convention. 

And  I  say,  further,  that  this  is  the  quickest  way  to  secure 
them.  If  a  General  Convention  is  to  be  called,  let  it  be  held 
at  once,  as  soon  as  possible.  If  gentlemen  from  eight  of  the 
States  in  this  Conference  represent  truly  the  sentiment  of  their 
people,  as  I  will  assume  they  do,  there  is  no  other  alternative. 
We  must  have  either  the  arbitrament  of  reason  or  the  arbitra 
ment  of  the  sword.  The  gloomy  future  alone  can  tell  whether 
the  latter  is  to  be  the  one  adopted.  I  greatly  fear  it  is.  The 
conviction  presses  upon  me  in  my  waking  and  my  sleeping 


REASON   OR  THE   SWORD.  159 

hours.  Only  last  night  I  dreamed  of  marching  armies  and  news 
from  the  seat  of  war  !  [A  laugh  from  the  Kentucky  and  Vir 
ginia  benches.] 

The  gentlemen  laugh.  I  thought  they,  too,  had  fears  of  war. 
I  thought  their  threats  and  prophecies  were  sincere.  God  grant 
that  I  may  not  hereafter  have  to  say,  ' '  I  had  a  dream  that  was 
not  all  a  dream!" 

For  my  own  State  and  for  the  North  I  have  only  to  say  that 
they  are  devoted  to  the  Union.  The  love  for  the  Union  is  the 
strongest  of  our  political  affections.  New  York  will  stand  by 
the  flag  of  the  country  while  there  is  a  star  left  in  its  folds.  If 
the  Union  should  be  reduced  to  thirteen  States — if  it  should  be 
reduced  to  three  States — if  all  should  fall  away  but  herself,  she 
will  stand  alone  to  bear  and  uphold  that  honored  flag,  and 
recover  the  Union  of  which  it  is  the  pledge  and  symbol.  God 
grant  that  time  may  never  come,  but  that  New  York  may  stand 
side  by  side  with  Kentucky  and  Virginia  to  the  end  !  That  we 
may  all  stand  by  the  Union,  negotiate  for  it,  fight  for  it,  if  the 
necessity  comes,  is  my  wish,  my  hope,  my  prayer.  The  Consti 
tution  made  for  us  by  Washington,  Franklin,  Madison,  and 
Hamilton,  and  the  wise  and  patriotic  men  who  labored  with 
them,  is  good  enough  for  us.  We  stand  for  the  Country,  for  the 
Union,  for  the  Constitution. 

Was  there  ever  a  more  manly  appeal  to  the  sense 
of  justice,  as  well  as  to  the  love  of  country  that  might 
linger  in  the  hearts  of  those  whose  fathers  had  fought 
for  American  independence  ?  Did  it  call  for  any  sacri 
fice  of  interest  or  of  pride  on  the  part  of  the  South  ? 
None  whatever.  Was  there  a  tone  of  threatening  to 
inflame  the  proud  Southern  spirit  ?  Not  the  slightest ! 
He  who  pleaded  so  earnestly  for  peace  spoke  more  in 


160  WHAT    DANIEL   WEBSTER   FORESAW. 

sorrow  than  in  anger — not  as  to  enemies,  but  as  to  those 
who  were,  or  ought  to  be,  friends  and  brothers.  Thirty 
years  before  Mr.  Webster  had  a  vision  of  a  conflict,  but 
only  as  it  appeared  far  off  on  the  horizon,  and  in  horror 
he  put  it  out  of  his  sight,  only  leaving  the  impression 
in  these  sad  but  immortal  words  that  now  seemed  pro 
phetic  :  * '  When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to  behold  for 
the  last  time  the  sun  in  heaven,  may  I  not  see  him 
shining  on  the  broken  and  dishonored  fragments  of 
a  once  glorious  Union  ;  on  States  dissevered,  discord 
ant,  belligerent ;  on  a  land  rent  with  civil  feuds,  or 
drenched,  it  may  be,  in  fraternal  blood  !  "  His  prayer 
was  answered,  and  the  black  cloud  disappeared,  but 
only  to  reappear  in  the  next  generation.  Mr.  Field 
was  haunted  by  the  vision  of  a  "gloomy  future," 
that  would  not  let  him  sleep  while  his  country  was 
going  to  ruin.  He  dreamed  of  ' '  marching  armies  and 
news  from  the  seat  of  war" — the  very  mention  of  which 
in  the  Convention  only  provoked  the  representatives  of 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  to  laughter.  No  wonder  that 
such  light-hearted  men  had  nothing  to  propose,  or  even 
to  consider  soberly,  when  they  could  not  believe  that 
danger  was  nigh.  The  mirthful  Virginians  who  could 
not  repress  their  merriment  at  Mr.  Field's  suggestion  of 
a  possible  conflict,  may  have  recalled  it  with  an  altered 
feeling  when  the  sound  of  cannon  was  heard  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Potomac,  and  the  fair  fields  of  Virginia  were 
"drenched  in  fraternal  blood." 


WHY    DID    THEY    FIGHT   AT   ALL?  161 

Alas  for  the  lessons  of  human  experience  !  In  the 
history  of  nations,  as  in  the  lives  of  individuals,  we  are 
constantly  reminded  of  what  ''might  have  been."  It 
was  the  greatest  crisis  in  American  history.  The  coun 
try  stood  on  the  brink  of  civil  war.  If  in  that  awful 
hour  the  South  had  listened  to  the  warning  of  one  of  its 
truest  friends,  what  might  have  been  !  One  moment's 
pause  !  one  step  backward  !  and  all  might  have  been 
saved  !  And  saved,  not  by  any  unmanly  concession  ; 
by  any  humiliating  surrender  !  It  would  have  been 
Peace  with  Honor  :  with  confidence  restored  and  friend 
ship  made  stronger  than  ever  !  True,  when  the  con 
flict  came,  the  sons  of  the  South  fought  bravely, 
for  they  had  the  blood  of  Revolutionary  ancestors  in 
their  veins.  But  why  should  they  have  fought  at  all  ? 
After  four  years  of  battle  and  of  blood  they  had  gained 
nothing  and  lost  everything  ! 

Here  for  the  present  we  will  let  the  curtain  fall.  It 
will  be  more  pleasant  to  find,  as  we  shall  in  a  future 
chapter,  that  when  the  cruel  war  was  over,  and  was 
followed  by  the  Period  of  Reconstruction,  Mr.  Field 
was  the  strongest  defender  of  the  rights  of  the  Southern 
States  to  be  restored  to  their  former  place,  as  parts  of 
"a  glorious  Union,"  that  should  be  henceforth  and  for 
ever  *  *  One  and  Inseparable  !  " 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  WAR  THAT  HAD  TO  COME. 

The  war  had  come  !  We  had  shut  our  eyes  to  it — 
we  could  not  and  would  not  believe  it  till  the  last. 
Even  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States  was  looked 
upon  at  first  as  merely  ' '  sulking  ; "  the  natural  fret- 
fulness  of  "wayward  sisters,"  whose  pride  had  been 
wounded  by  their  defeat  in  the  election,  but  who  needed 
only  a  little  kindly  soothing  to  be  reconciled  to  the  inev 
itable.  And  so  the  warlike  manifesto  did  not  disturb 
the  equanimity  of  the  North,  as  it  proceeded  to  the 
inauguration  of  the  new  President,  trusting  that  when 
the  thing  was  done,  and  could  not  be  undone,  the  sober 
second  thought  of  our  Southern  brethren  would  bring 
them  back  into  the  fold.  But  in  twelve  months  we 
had  been  making  history  very  fast.  Not  quite  a  year 
before,  on  almost  the  last  day  of  winter,  a  man  of  giant 
frame  from  the  West  had  made  his  first  appearance  in 
New  York.  And  now  reappears  the  same  tall  figure, 
though  in  another  guise,  standing  erect  in  a  carriage, 
as  he  rides  down  Broadway,  bowing  to  the  tens  of 
thousands  who  crowd  doors  and  windows  and  house 
tops — not  to  see  "great  Caesar  pass,"  but  to  see  a  man 


INAUGURATION   OF   LINCOLN.  163 

of  the  people,  elected  by  the  people,  to  rule  over  the 
people,  of  the  Great  Republic  !  The  joy  of  the  occa 
sion  was  a  little — or  not  a  little — damped  a  few  days 
later  by  the  fact  that  as  he  came  nearer  to  Washington 
the  cheers  were  not  so  unanimous,  and  that  at  the  last 
moment  he  had  to  make  his  entrance  at  an  unexpected 
hour,  to  escape  a  plot  that  had  been  laid  for  his  assassi 
nation  !  But  at  last  he  was  in  the  Capital,  and  had 
taken  the  oath  of  office,  and  was  President  of  the 
United  States. 

For  a  few  weeks  there  was  a  lull  of  excitement — 
the  "silence  in  heaven"  before  the  thunder-burst — 
when  from  far  down  the  Southern  coast  a  dull  boom 
"came  rolling  on  the  wind,"  and  instantly  the  land 
rose  up  at  the  sound  of  war.  That  first  shot  upon 
Sumter  made  an  end  forever  of-  "Peace  Conferences." 
The  South  had  been  warned  that  it  "  must  have  either 
the  arbitrament  of  reason,  or  the  arbitrament  of  the 
sword."  It  chose  the  latter,  and  had  to  take  the  conse 
quences  to  the  bitter  end. 

A  body  of  soldiers  on  parade  is  always  a  gay  specta 
cle,  and  Broadway  was  crowded  more  than  ever  when 
our  gallant  Seventh  Regiment  marched  down  on  its 
way  to  the  front,  soon  followed  by  regiments  that  came 
from  under  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill,  all  moving 
towards  the  Capital,  which  was  for  a  time  cut  off  from 
communication  with  the  North,  as  if  it  were  in  a  state 
of  siege. 


164:   NORTHERNERS  FLEEING  FROM  THE  SOUTH. 

The  unaccustomed  and  troubled  state  of  things  was 
brought  home  to  me  by  a  little  personal  experience. 
One  evening  a  company  of  gentlemen  were  gathered 
round  my  brother  Dudley's  table,  among  whom  was 
Vice-President  Hamlin,  a  very  important  personage 
at  that  moment,  when  there  had  been  a  plot  for  the 
assassination  of  the  President.  Wishing  to  send  word 
to  Washington  by  a  messenger,  I  was  asked  to  try  to 
work  my  way  through.  I  got  as  far  as  Perryville, 
where  I  found  the  Seventh  Regiment  waiting  for  the 
means  of  transport.  After  some  hours  the  ferryboat 
from  Havre  de  Grace  brought  a  crowd  of  refugees, 
among  whom  was  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  then  a 
student  at  the  Episcopal  Theological  Seminary  in  Vir 
ginia,  where  the  political  atmosphere  had  become  too 
warm  for  him,  and  he  started  North,  but  found  it  not 
easy  to  get  through  Baltimore,  as  every  stranger  was 
an  object  of  suspicion.  Seeing  the  danger,  he  put  on 
a  bold  face,  as  if  he  were  a  Southerner  to  the  manner 
born,  and  drove  to  Barnum's  Hotel,  entered  his  name 
and  took  a  room,  by  which  the  watchers  were  thrown 
off  the  scent,  and  then  sauntered  down  the  street  till  he 
could  turn  a  corner,  when  he  jumped  into  a  cab  and 
drove  to  the  boat,  which  was  just  pushing  off  from  the 
wharf.  It  was  a  narrow  escape,  and  he  warned  me 
against  running  into  the  same  danger,  telling  me  that 
I  could  not  possibly  get  through  Baltimore,  where  I 
might  be  subjected  to  very  rough  treatment.  Yielding 


THE   PLAGUE   OF   OFFICE-SEEKERS.  165 

to  his  earnest  representations,  we  came  back  together 
to  New  York.  To  what  dangers  we  might  have  been 
exposed  we  saw  a  few  days  after,  when  the  Sixth 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  which  was  the  first  to  respond 
to  the  call  of  the  President,  was  stoned  and  fired  upon 
in  the  streets  of  Baltimore,  and  had  to  force  its  way  to 
the  Capital. 

While  such  clouds  were  gathering  Mr.  Field  could 
hardly  restrain  his  impatience  at  the  pettiness  of  politics 
that  was  sometimes  forced  upon  him  by  the  impor 
tunity  of  others.  At  the  outset  of  a  new  administra 
tion  there  are  always  rivalries  among  the  seekers  for 
office.  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  how  his  nomination  had 
been  opposed  by  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Seward.  But 
he  was  the  most  forgiving  of  men,  and  with  his  native 
generosity  he  had  put  Mr.  Seward  at  the  head  of  his 
Cabinet,  which  led  some  of  his  followers  to  push  them- ; 
selves  to  the  front  with  a  haste  that,  to  say  the  least, 
was  not  quite  dignified.  For  this  Mr.  Field  personally 
cared  nothing  ;  but  he  was  not  willing  that  his  brave 
companions  in  arms,  the  old  Free  Soilers,  who  had 
fought  the  battle  against  slavery,  and  formed  the  most 
radical  and  determined  wing  of  the  Republican  party, 
should  come  in  as  the  rear-guard  to  a  crowd  of  office- 
seeker's.  In  justice  to  them  he  had  a  long  interview 
with  the  President,  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Seward, 
Mr.  Chase,  Mr.  Welles,  and  Mr.  Preston  King,  in 
which  the  matter  was  fully  explained,  and  both  parties 


166  THE   BATTLE   OF   BULL   RUN. 

were  relieved  of  any  further  responsibility.  Mr.  Lincoln 
took  in  the  situation  at  once,  and  with  his  usual  tact 
settled  these  family  differences,  so  as  to  unite  all  in  the 
one  purpose  of  saving  the  country — an  issue  that  now 
extinguished  the  thought  of  anything  else.  As  soon 
as  the  people  of  the  United  States  found  themselves 
plunged  in  a  tremendous  conflict,  all  personal  interests 
gave  way  to  the  one  thought  of  the  common  safety, 
and  those  who  had  been  divided  in  their  political  rela 
tions  stood  side  by  side  in  the  ranks  of  war. 

Then  events  came  thick  and  fast.  An  army  recruited 
from  the  North  was  soon  massed  in  Washington  for 
its  defence,  while  an  opposing  army  mustered  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Potomac,  where  on  the  21st  of  July, 
1861,  was  fought  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  which,  though 
not  a  great  battle  as  compared  with  those  of  a  later 
time,  has  a  place  in  history  as  the  first  conflict  of  four 
terrible  years. 

When  it  was  thus  made  evident  that  we  were  to 
have  war  in  earnest,  Mr.  Field  offered  his  services 
to  Mr.  Lincoln,  who,  recalling  perhaps  the  saying, 
"Old  men  for  counsel  and  young  men  for  war,"  might 
well  think  that  a  man  fifty-six  years  of  age  could  be 
more  useful  to  his  country  in  sustaining  the  spirit  of 
the  people,  than  at  the  head  of  a  regiment  or  a  division. 

This  is  no  place  to  enter  into  a  history  of  the  mighty 
events  that  followed.  As  I  look  back  upon  it,  it  seems 
like  a  horrible  dream.  Why  then  should  we  recall  it  ? 


LOOKING   BACK    TO    THE    WAR.  167 

It  is  more  than  thirty  years  since  the  last  shot  was 
fired,  and  a  new  generation  has  come  upon  the  stage,  to 
which  it  is  all  ancient  history.  Why  should  we  revive 
such  painful  memories  ?  Not  to  reopen  old  wounds, 
but  to  heal  them.  Great  historical  events  are  seen 
best  at  a  distance,  when  the  passions  they  aroused  are 
gone.  That  time  has  come.  When  the  leaders  of 
armies  on  both  sides  can  meet  on  their  fields  of  battle 
and  rear  monuments  alike  to  friend  and  foe,  we  may 
well  say  that  the  old  bitterness  between  the  North  and 
the  South  is  past,  and  that  we  can  now  look  upon  the 
great  struggle  in  the  calm  light  of  history. 

But  at  the  time  there  was  no  "calm  light  of  history." 
Events  were  all  in  the  future.  Was  there  a  hope  of 
success  sufficient  to  justify  a  conflict  so  awful  ?  Some 
of  our  best  friends  abroad  thought  not.  John  Bright 
saw  from  the  first  that  it  was  a  death-struggle  between 
Freedom  and  Slavery,  and  stood  firm  for  the  North. 
But  Mr.  Gladstone  was  so  shocked  by  the  horrors  of 
the  war  that  he  looked  upon  it  as  one  of  the  most  awful 
tragedies  in  history.  That  a  nation  like  ours — of  one 
race  and  blood,  all  speaking  the  same  language,  and 
having  the  same  religion — should  go  to  war  among 
ourselves,  and  engage  in  the  work  of  mutual  destruc 
tion,  seemed  too  horrible  for  belief,  and  he  would  fain 
shut  his  eyes  from  the  sight  !  Near  the  close  of  the 
second  year  of  the  war  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  late 
Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field,  which  is  one  long  and  passionate 


168  LETTER  OF   MR.    GLADSTONE. 

outcry,  that  shows  his  utter  despair.  The  historical 
value  of  such  a  letter  from  such  a  source  will  justify 
its  quotation  here  : 

11  CABLTON  HOUSE  TERRACE,  November  27, 1862. 
My  dear  Sir:  I  thank  you  very  much  for  giving  me  the 
"Thirteen  Months."  *  Will  you  think  that  I  belie  the  expression 
I  have  used  if  I  tell  you  candidly  the  effect  this  book  has  pro 
duced  upon  my  mind  ?  I  think  you  will  not  ;  I  do  not  believe 
that  you  or  your  countrymen  are  among  those  who  desire  that 
any  one  should  purchase  your  favor  by  speaking  what  is  false, 
or  by  forbearing  to  speak  what  is  true.  The  book,  then, 
impresses  me  even  more  deeply  than  I  was  before  impressed, 
with  the  heavy  responsibility  you  incur  in  persevering  with  this 
destructive  and  hopeless  war  at  the  cost  of  such  dangers  and 
evils  to  yourselves,  to  say  nothing  of  your  adversaries,  or  of  an 
amount  of  misery  inflicted  upon  Europe  such  as  no  other  civil 
war  in  the  history  of  man  has  ever  brought  upon  those  beyond 
its  immediate  range.  Your  frightful  conflict  may  be  regarded 
from  many  points  of  view.  The  competency  of  the  Southern 
States  to  secede  ;  the  rightfulness  of  their  conduct  in  seceding, 
(two  matters  wholly  distinct  and  a  great  deal  too  much  con 
founded)  ;  the  natural  reluctance  of  Northern  Americans  to 
acquiesce  in  the  severance  of  the  Union,  and  the  apparent  loss 
of  strength  and  glory  to  their  country  ;  the  bearing  of  the  sep 
aration  on  the  real  interests  and  on  the  moral  character  of  the 
North  ;  again,  for  an  Englishman,  its  bearing  with  respect  to 
British  interests — all  these  are  texts  of  which  any  one  affords 
ample  matter  for  reflection.  But  I  will  only  state,  as  regards 


*  "Thirteen  Months  in  the  Rebel  Army.  By  an  impressed 
New  Yorker."  The  letter  is  taken  from  the  Life  of  Mr.  Field  by 
his  daughter,  published  by  the  Harpers. 


THE  IMPOSSIBILITY   OF   SUCCESS.  169 

the  last  of  them,  that  I,  for  one,  have  never  hesitated  to  main 
tain  that,  in  my  opinion,  the  separate  and  special  interests  of 
England  were  all  on  the  side  of  the  maintenance  of  the  old 
Union ;  and  if  I  were  to  look  at  those  interests  alone,  and  had 
the  power  of  choosing  in  what  way  the  war  should  end,  I  would 
choose  for  by  the  restoration  of  the  old  Union  this  very  day. 

But  there  is  an  aspect  of  the  war  which  transcends  every 
other  :  the  possibility  of  success.  The  prospect  of  success  will 
not  justify  a  war  in  itself  unjust,  but  the  impossibility  of  suc 
cess  in  a  war  of  conquest  of  itself  suffices  to  make  it  unjust ; 
when  that  impossibility  is  reasonably  proved,  all  the  horror,  all 
the  bloodshed,  all  the  evil  passions,  all  the  dangers  to  liberty 
and  order  with  which  such  a  war  abounds,  come  to  lie  at  the 
door  of  the  party  which  refuses  to  hold  its  hand  and  let  its 
neighbor  be. 

You  know  that  in  the  opinion  of  Europe  this  impossibility 
has  been  proved.  It  is  proved  by  every  page  of  this  book, 
and  every  copy  of  this  book  which  circulates  will  carry  the  proof 
wider  and  stamp  it  more  clearly.  Depend  upon  it,  to  place  the 
matter  upon  a  single  issue,  you  cannot  conquer  and  keep  down 
a  country  where  the  women  behave  like  the  women  of  New 
Orleans,  where,  as  this  author  says,  they  would  be  ready  to  form 
regiments,  if  such  regiments  could  be  of  use.  And  how  idle  it 
is  to  talk,  as  some  of  your  people  do,  and  some  of  ours,  of  the 
slackness  with  which  the  war  has  been  carried  on,  and  of  its 
accounting  for  the  want  of  success  !  You  have  no  cause  to  be 
ashamed  of  your  military  character  and  efforts.  You  have 
proved  what  wanted  no  proof — your  spirit,  hardihood,  immense 
powers,  and  rapidity  and  variety  of  resources.  You  have  spent 
as  much  money,  and  have  armed  and  perhaps  have  destroyed  as 
many  men,  taking  the  two  sides  together,  as  all  Europe  spent 
in  the  first  years  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  Is  not  this  enough  ? 


170   YOU  HAVE  DONE  ALL  THAT  MEN  COULD  DO. 

Why  have  you  not  more  faith  in  the  future  of  a  nation  which 
should  lead  for  ages  to  come  the  American  continent ;  which  in 
five  or  ten  years  will  make  up  its  apparent  loss  or  first  loss  of 
strength  and  numbers  ;  and  which,  with  a  career  unencumbered 
by  the  terrible  calamity  and  curse  of  slavery,  will  even  from  the 
first  be  liberated  from  a  position  morally  and  incurably  false  ; 
and  will  from  the  first  enjoy  a  permanent  gain  in  credit  and 
character  such  as  will  much  more  than  compensate  for  its  tem 
porary  material  losses  ?  I  am,  in  short,  a  follower  of  General 
Scott.  With  him  I  say,  "Wayward  sisters,  go  in  peace." 
Immortal  fame  be  to  him  for  his  wise  and  courageous  advice, 
amounting  to  a  prophecy. 

Finally,  you  have  done  what  men  could  do  ;  you  have  failed 
because  you  resolved  to  do  what  men  could  not  do.  Laws 
stronger  than  human  will  are  on  the  side  of  earnest  self-defence  ; 
and  the  aim  at  the  impossible,  which  in  other  things  may  be 
folly  only,  when  the  path  of  search  is  dark  with  misery  and  red 
with  blood,  is  not  folly  only,  but  guilt  to  boot.  I  should  not 
have  used  so  largely  in  this  letter  the  privileges  of  free  utterance 
had  I  not  been  conscious  that  I  vie  with  yourselves  in  my  admir 
ation  of  the  founders  of  your  republic,  and  I  have  no  lurking 
sentiment  either  of  hostility  or  of  indifference  to  America  ;  nor, 
I  may  add,  even  then  had  I  not  believed  that  you  are  lovers  of 
sincerity,  and  that  you  can  bear  even  the  rudenesss  of  its  tongue. 
I  remain,  dear  sir.  very  faithfully  yours, 

W.  E.  GLADSTONE. 
CYRUS  FIELD,  ESQ. 

This  was  a  terrible  indictment  of  our  country,  the 
more  so  as  the  words  were  those  of  a  friend.  But  one 
assumption,  which  the  writer  took  for  granted — that 
it  was  impossible  to  subdue  the  Rebellion — has  been 


WHERE  WOULD   HE   DRAW    THE   LINE  ?  171 

answered  by  the  event.  Our  country,  with  the  help  of 
God,  did  achieve  the  impossible  ! 

But  the  moral  question  still  remains,  Was  it  a  just 
war,  or  a  wicked  war  ?  the  answer  to  which  we  rest 
on  two  points  :  that  the  conflict  was,  sooner  or  later, 
inevitable,  (as  we  have  shown  by  the  estrangement 
between  the  North  and  the  South,  that  grew  year  by 
year,  till  it  culminated  in  the  secession  of  eight  States  ; ) 
and  that,  at  the  same  time,  a  separation  into  two 
countries  was  impossible. 

If  Mr.  Gladstone  would  divide  the  United  States  into 
two  nations,  where  would  he  draw  the  line  ?  There  is 
no  natural  boundary  between  us — no  dividing  seas,  nor 
chain  of  mountains.  Switzerland  is  throned  upon  the 
Alps,  whose  snow-clad  heights  are  a  barrier  against 
invasion  from  her  more  powerful  neighbors.  India  is 
protected  by  the  Himalayas  from  the  descent  of  any 
modern  Alexander  the  Great.  But  we  have  no  such 
ramparts  to  defend  us  one  from  the  other.  Nor  are  the 
North  and  the  South  divided  by  great  rivers,  as  Canada 
is  separated  from  us  by  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Lakes. 
We  have  indeed  one  mighty  river  that  drains  the  Con 
tinent  ;  that  is  to  North  America  what  the  Amazon  is 
to  South  America  ;  but  it  does  not,  like  the  Amazon, 
run  Eastward  to  empty  into  the  Atlantic,  but  South 
ward  to  empty  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Wherefore 
the  line  of  division  that  is  drawn  between  our  two 
Republics  must  be  purely  an  artificial  one.  Nor  could 


172          NO   NATURAL  BOUNDARY   BETWEEN    US. 

it  be  even  a  straight  line,  on  one  parallel  of  latitude, 
but,  following  the  borders  of  the  States,  it  would  zigzag 
across  the  Continent.  These  irregular  boundaries  would 
not  matter  so  long  as  the  States  were  all  one  Country, 
for  this  very  interlocking  of  territory  would  not  be 
driving  so  many  wedges  into  one  another's  sides,  to  split 
them  apart,  but  so  many  bolts  of  iron  to  hold  them 
together. 

But  the  situation  would  be  changed  utterly  if  the 
great  expanse  of  territory  were  divided  into  two  coun 
tries,  peopled  by  two  powerful  nations.  The  closer  the 
contact  the  worse  for  both  when  there  was  one  ever- 
present  source  of  irritation,  since  on  one  side  would 
be  a  Republic  built  on  Freedom  ;  and  on  the  other  a 
Republic  (?)  built  on  Slavery  !  The  States  of  Ken 
tucky  and  Ohio  are  divided  only  by  the  Ohio  River. 
What  power  on  earth  could  keep  the  slaves  on  one 
side  from  stealing  across  the  water  in  dark  nights  to 
the  land  of  liberty  ?  There  would  be  no  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  to  bring  them  back.  The  movement  Northward 
would  be  as  constant  as  if  it  were  led  by  the  Polar  Star. 
With  such  provocation,  how  long  would  the  fiery  Ken- 
tuckians  restrain  their  anger  ?  The  only  protection  for 
the  South  would  be  a  standing  army,  a  demonstration 
on  one  side  that  would  provoke  the  same  on  the  other, 
till  the  zigzag  line  across  the  continent  would  be  like 
chain  lightning,  flashing  incessantly,  and  keeping  two 
great  nations  forever  on  the  verge  of  war  !  Seeing  all 


TWO  NATIONS  WOULD  MEAN  PERPETUAL  WAR.    173 

this,  the  men  of  the  North,  who  were  not  * '  fire-eaters, " 
and  had  no  love  of  war  for  its  own  sake,  said,  Since 
the  issue  is  inevitable,  we  may  as  well  meet  it  in  our 
day  as  leave  it  to  our  children.  If  the  war  must  come, 
let  it  come  now  !  Better — a  thousand  times  better — to 
have  a  war  of  four  years,  than  a  war,  like  that  of  the 
Spaniard  and  the  Moor,  to  be  handed  down  from  gen 
eration  to  generation  ! 

Of  all  public  men  in  the  country,  no  one  saw  more 
clearly  the  inevitable  issue  than  Mr.  Lincoln.  Long 
before  he  was  President  he  said  to  himself  and  to 
others  :  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand. 
I  believe  this  government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union 
to  be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall — 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will 
become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  oppo 
nents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and 
place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief 
that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction  ;  or  its 
advocates  will  push  it  forward  till  it  shall  become  alike 
lawful  in  all  the  States — old  as  well  as  new,  North  as 
well  as  South." 

What  Mr.  Lincoln  saw  from  his  point  of  view  in    \ 
the  West,  Mr.  Field  had  seen  even  at  an  earlier  date 
in  the  East.     For  years  he  had  been  fighting  against 
the  slave  power,  which  was  steadily  advancing  to  the 
complete   control   of    the    government.      At  last  the 


174  MR.    CHASE   AND   MR.    STANTON. 

issue  had  come,  to  be  settled,  not  by  political  conven 
tions,  but  on  the  field  of  battle ;  and  if  he  could  not 
march  with  the  regiments,  he  could  at  least  support 
them  by  keeping  up  the  patriotic  spirit  at  home.  Again 
and  again  he  went  on  to  Washington,  where  he  had 
frequent  interviews  with  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  mem 
bers  of  his  Cabinet,  of  whom  he  was  most  attracted  to 
Mr.  Chase  and  Mr.  Stanton,  as  they  were  old  Demo 
crats,  and  as  on  them  fell  the  chief  burdens  of  the  war.  * 
They  in  turn  found  support  in  his  unconquerable  spirit, 


*  Several  years  after — when  the  war  was  over — in  an  argu 
ment  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  on 
"Military  Tribunals  for  Civilians,"  Mr.  Field  thus  referred  to 
Mr.  Stanton  :  ''It  has  been  my  fortune  to  be  with  him  in  some 
of  the  darkest  hours  of  the  tempest,  and  I  can  bear  personal 
witness  to  his  indomitable  energy  ;  to  the  erect  front  which  he 
maintained  against  all  disaster  ;  to  his  industry,  which  knew 
no  weariness  ;  and  to  his  absolute  devotion  to  the  public  service. 
Next  to  the  President  himself,  and  to  the  illustrious  man  who 
organized  that  gigantic  system  of  finance  which  carried  us 
through  without  a  shock  to  the  public  service,  to  the  amaze 
ment  of  the  Old  World  and  the  admiration  of  the  New  ;  next, 
I  say,  to  the  President  and  his  Minister  of  Finance,  the  country 
owes  more  to  him  than  to  any  other  civilian.  His  services  may 
be  for  the  time  lost  in  the  blaze  of  military  glory.  His  labori 
ous  days,  and  the  plain  building  where  he  passed  them,  are  now 
eclipsed  by  the  clouds  that  rolled  from  the  fields  of  Vicksburg 
and  Shiloh,  from  Gettysburg  and  Antietam,  from  Atlanta  and 
Petersburg,  but  when  history  writes  the  record  of  this  war,  we 
shall  find  there,  in  light,  the  name  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton." 


INTERVIEWS    WITH    MR.    LINCOLN.  175 

that  never  gave  up  even  in  the  darkest  hour.  After 
the  great  defeat  of  the  Second  Bull  Run,  Mr.  Stanton 
telegraphed  to  him  to  come  to  Washington.  He  went 
on  the  same  night,  and  going  to  his  house  early  the 
next  morning,  he  found  the  great  War  Secretary  at 
breakfast,  as  calm  as  a  man  could  be  at  that  terrible 
moment,  when  despatches  were  pouring  in  with  one 
continued  tale  of  disaster  ;  that  our  army  was  fall 
ing  back,  as  if  it  might  be  compelled  to  seek  for 
safety  behind  the  defences  of  Washington  !  Together 
they  went  over  to  the  War  Department,  where  they 
found  the  President,  with  Mr.  Chase  and  General 
Halleck.  It  was  no  time  to  exchange  compliments, 
and  Mr.  Field  felt  that  he  must  speak  plainly  as  to 
the  anxiety  that  pervaded  the  North  at  the  result 
of  the  campaign,  in  which  McClellan,  after  leading 
a  mighty  host  almost  to  the  gates  of  Richmond,  had 
been  driven  from  the  Peninsula,  and  Pope  had  been 
defeated  in  the  very  sight  of  the  Capitol.  At  this  free 
dom  of  speech  Mr.  Lincoln  took  no  offence,  but  turn 
ing  to  Mr.  Chase,  said,  "Mr.  Field  has  a  right  to 
express  himself  freely  :  let  us  explain  the  situation  to 
him,"  and  sitting  down  before  a  large  map  that  hung 
upon  the  wall,  he  gave  a  general  outline  of  the  plan  of 
the  campaign,  which  showed  how  perfectly  he  under 
stood  it,  and  how  competent  he  was  to  give,  not  only 
suggestions,  but,  if  need  be,  commands,  as  to  the  con 
duct  of  the  war. 


176  HIGH   ESTIMATE   OF   HIS   ABILITY. 

The  same  lesson  he  had  at  another  time  when  he 
was  invited  to  accompany  the  President,  with  Mr.  Chase, 
Mr.  Stanton,  and  Admiral  Dahlgren,  in  a  government 
steamer  down  the  Potomac  to  Acquia  Creek,  where 
General  McDowell  was  then  in  command,  who  was 
sent  for  to  come  off  to  the  steamer,  and  came  with  one 
or  two  of  his  aides,  all  bespattered  with  mud,  from 
riding  over  the  horrible  roads.  But  neither  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  nor  anybody  else,  cared  for  the  outward  appear 
ance  of  these  rough  riders,  but  only  for  what  they 
knew  and  could  report.  To  hear  this  all  gathered  round 
the  cabin  table,  where  was  spread  out  a  map  of  the 
country,  on  which  they  studied  the  whole  field  of  the 
contending  armies  as  if  in  a  council  of  war. 

These  interviews  and  conversations  raised  Mr.  Field's 
estimate  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  ability,  as  he  saw  under  that 
plain  exterior  a  man,  not  only  devoted  to  his  country, 
but  of  such  quickness  of  observation  and  excellent  judg 
ment,  even  in  a  subject  so  foreign  to  him  as  that  of 
war,  that  he  had  a  better  idea  of  the  way  to  conduct 
a  campaign  than  many  an  officer,  with  his  glittering 
sword  and  epaulets.  This  combination  of  intelligence 
with  frankness  won,  not  only  the  heart  of  Mr.  Field, 
but  his  fullest  confidence,  as  he  saw  that  the  govern 
ment  was  not,  like  a  great  ship  of  war  in  a  tempest, 
drifting  to  destruction  for  want  of  a  capable  com 
mander.  However  threatening  the  storm  might  be, 
there  was  a  master  on  the  deck,  of  cool  head  and  brave 


IMPARTING   COURAGE   TO   OTHERS.  177 

heart,  whom  it  was  the  duty  of  all  on  board  to  support 
till  the  storm  blew  itself  out,  and  the  ship,  though  with 
broken  masts  and  torn  sails,  floated  into  the  haven 
where  she  would  be. 

Thus  strengthened  in  heart  and  hope,  Mr.  Field 
came  back  to  impart  to  others  the  same  confidence,  of 
which  at  times  there  was  a  pressing  need.  There  was 
no  want  of  courage  in  the  soldiers.  The  army  was 
always  ready  to  do  its  part.  Nor  were  the  most  trying 
moments  those  of  battle,  for  then  all  were  strung  up 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  daring.  But  for  the  country  at 
large,  for  those  far  away  among  the  Northern  hills, 
the  great  trial  was  the  long  suspense,  the  slow  move 
ment  of  armies,  the  horrors  of  the  battle-field,  from 
which  thousands  were  borne  to  the  hospitals,  where 
were  mingled  the  dying  and  the  dead.  All  this  made 
the  hearts  sick  of  those  whose  sons  and  brothers  were 
in  the  field,  to  a  degree  that  at  times  almost  paralyzed 
the  nation.  Then  the  great  demand  of  the  country  was 
not  so  much  for  more  soldiers  at  the  front,  as  for  more 
supporters  in  the  rear,  a  mighty  reserve  of  invincibles, 
who  never  despaired  of  the  Republic. 

And  now,  standing  off  at  the  distance  of  thirty  years 
— the  lifetime  of  a  generation — we  may  venture  on  one 
or  two  general  reflections  upon  the  Civil  War.  Leav 
ing  aside  the  purely  moral  considerations,  it  may  not  be 
going  beyond  the  mark  to  say  that,  next  to  the  Revolu 
tion,  it  was  not  only  the  most  stupendous,  but  the  most 


178       THE   WAR  INDISPENSABLE   TO   THE   UNION. 

beneficent  event  in  American  history.  War  is  not  always 
a  curse  :  it  may  be  the  necessary  means  of  the  greatest 
good.  Our  country  has  passed  through  three  wars, 
each  one  of  which  has  had  a  part  in  the  making  of  the 
nation.  It  was  by  an  eight-years'  war  that  the  Colo 
nies  gained  their  independence  ;  the  War  of  1812  raised 
the  United  States,  if  not  to  a  position  among  the  great 
military  powers  of  the  world,  yet  to  one  that  promised 
to  make  it  next  to  Great  Britain  on  the  sea  ;  while  this 
last  array  of  a  nation  in  arms  forced  upon  the  world 
the  question  :  If  the  States  were  so  terrible  when 
divided  and  warring  against  each  other,  what  would 
they  be  when  united  ? 

We  may  even  go  a  step  farther,  and  say  that  the 
war  for  Disunion  was  indispensable  to  the  Union  itself, 
since  it  eliminated  the  only  cause  of  separation  between 
the  North  and  the  South,  to  the  happy  issue  that  they 
should  be  One  Country  thenceforth  and  forever  ! 

At  the  same  time  it  inspired  both  with  a  mutual 
respect,  which  is  the  first  step  to  any  closer  relations. 
In  this  primary  discipline  war  is  the  greatest  of  all  teach 
ers.  Nothing  subdues  the  loftiness  of  an  opponent  like 
an  unexpected  show  of  power.  Up  to  this  time  the  peo 
ple  of  the  two  great  Divisions  did  not  know  each  other. 
Separated,  not  only  by  distance,  but  by  different  social 
systems,  they  grew  up  with  a  traditional  dislike  and 
aversion.  The  Southern  planters  formed  an  aristo 
cratic  class,  made  up  of  landed  proprietors,  who,  living 


INTRODUCED   ON    THE   FIELD   OF   BATTLE.  179 

by  the  labor  of  others,  were  apt  to  despise  those  who 
worked  with  their  own  hands.  They  looked  upon  the 
people  of  the  North  as  a  race  of  canting  hypocrites,  who 
worshipped  the  almighty  dollar,  and  who  were  so  lack 
ing  in  manly  spirit  that  they  could  be  treated  with  a  want 
of  respect  bordering  on  rudeness,  and  yet  not  be  pro 
voked  into  resistance  !  From  this  impression  they  had 
a  rude  awakening,  like  that  of  the  French  when  they 
rushed  into  war  with  the  slow,  plodding  Germans,  but 
soon  found  themselves  engaged  in  what,  to  use  a  mod 
ern  phrase,  might  be  called  "a  campaign  of  education." 
The  North  and  the  South  were  never  really  acquainted, 
till  they  were  introduced  to  one  another  on  the  field 
of  battle.  From  that  time  they  came  to  regard  one 
another  with  profound  respect,  for  both  sides  dis 
played  the  qualities  that  compel  honor  and  admiration. 
" Braver  men  never  to  battle  rode."  And  the  bravery 
seems  to  have  been  equally  divided.  If  our  imagina 
tion  be  taken  by  what  the  German  poet  pictures  to  the 
eye  as  "the  battle's  splendor,"  we  have  it  here,  for 
never  in  the  history  of  war  was  greater  courage  shown 
on  both  sides,  if  it  be  measured  by  the  number  of  the 
wounded  and  the  dead.  In  the  Franco-Prussian  War 
the  greatest  carnage  was  in  the  cavalry  charges 
at  Mars-le-Tour,  when  nearly  one-half  fell  killed  or 
wounded,  a  proportion  that  was  surpassed  in  many  of 
the  regiments  on  both  sides  at  Chickamauga.  The 
battle  of  Waterloo  began  at  noon,  and  continued  to  the 


180  THE   GLORY   OF   REUNION. 

going  down  of  the  sun  :  that  of  Gettysburg  was  fought 
on  and  on  for  three  days,  and  ended  at  last  by  the 
repulse  of  a  charge  that  was  more  desperate  than  that 
of  the  Old  Guard. 

And  is  all  this  glory  of  the  battle-field  to  be  put  away 
and  forgotten  ?  On  the  contrary,  we  cherish  the  memory 
of  it  as  that  of  which  we  are  justly  proud.  Our  coun 
try  has  passed  through  the  greatest  civil  war  in  history 
— a  war  that  raged  over  half  a  continent — and  it  still 
lives,  and  is  stronger  than  ever.  And  what  is  more, 
we  of  the  North  are  proud  of  those  who  fought  against 
us,  of  their  courage  and  endurance,  in  the  strength  of 
which  we  both  share,  as  we  are  no  more  twain,  but  one. 

If  there  was  nothing  so  terrible  as  Disunion,  there 
has  been  nothing  more  glorious  than  Reunion.  For 
eigners  do  not  know  what  to  make  of  it,  when  they  see 
Northern  and  Southern  Generals  meeting  at  Gettysburg 
and  Chickamauga,  raising  monuments  to  those  who 
fought  and  fell  on  both  sides.  But  these  heroic  memo 
ries  are  the  proud  possession  of  us  all.  Nothing  in  our 
country  reflects  more  honor  upon  the  generosity  of  the 
American  people  than  the  vast  cemeteries,  North  and 
South,  in  which  are  gathered  the  forms  of  those  fallen 
in  battle,  with  this  inscription  : 

"  On  Fame's  eternal  camping  ground 

Their  silent  tents  are  spread, 
While  glory  guards  with  ceaseless  round 
The  bivouac  of  the  dead." 


ASSASSINATION   OF   LINCOLN.  181 

But  this  is  anticipating  the  times  of  reconciliation, 
while  in  the  order  of  our  chronicle  we  are  but  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  which,  if  it  had  its  burst  of  sunshine, 
had  also  its  dark  cloud  that  covered  the  whole  heaven. 
In  the  midst  of  our  rejoicing  at  the  return  of  peace, 
came  the  assassination  of  our  beloved  President,  and 
for  the  time  all  our  pride  was  turned  into  mourning  for 
him  who  had  carried  us  through  the  great  ordeal  of  our 
national  existence.  Overwhelmed  at  the  country's  loss, 
Mr.  Field  went  to  Washington  to  attend  the  funeral,  and 
rode  from  the  Capitol  in  the  carriage  with  Mr.  Stan- 
ton,  who  told  him  of  the  President's  dream  on  the  night 
before  the  fatal  event.  As  the  members  of  the  Cabinet 
were  coming  in,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  that  he  had  a  pre 
sentiment  that  something  was  going  to  happen,  for  he 
had  had  a  dream  like  one  that  he  had  before  the  battle 
of  Chickamauga.  He  was  standing  by  a  river  where 
the  current  was  swift,  rushing  by  like  a  torrent,  which 
seemed  to  prefigure  a  course  of  events  that  could  not 
be  checked  or  controlled.  What  could  be  more  signifi 
cant  of  an  event  that  was  coming  very  near,  that  was 
to  sweep  him  away  from  all  part  in  human  affairs  ? 
That  very  night  the  flood  came  and  bore  this  emanci 
pator  of  a  race  out  of  human  sight,  leaving  behind  him 
as  his  only  memorial  a  country  saved  and  an  immortal 
name. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

RE-ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  LAW. 

The  war  was  over ;  but  it  left  wreck  and  ruin 
behind.  North  and  South  had  both  suffered  immeas 
urably  ;  but  the  North  the  less,  as  its  population  was 
double,  and  its  resources  were  ten  times  greater,  while 
the  South  was  left  almost  a  desert.  Towns  and  cities 
had  been  bombarded,  and  the  cotton  fields,  for  the 
product  of  which  the  looms  of  England  and  the  Conti 
nent  were  standing  still,  presented  a  scene  of  blackened 
desolation. 

But  even  this  was  less  appalling  than  the  sacrifice  in 
tens  of  thousands  of  Southern  homes,  from  which  some 
times  father  and  sons  had  gone  out  together,  of  all  whom 
but  one  or  two  returned.  The  angel  of  death  had  been 
abroad  in  the  land,  till  it  might  almost  be  said,  as  in 
the  plague  of  the  first-born  in  Egypt,  that  there  was 
not  an  house  in  which  there  was  not  one  dead  ! 

The  North  too  had  the  joy  of  victory  dampened  by 
what  was  harder  to  bear  than  the  loss  of  a  battle.  Our 
country  never  witnessed  a  military  pageant  so  imposing 
as  the  return  of  the  army  through  Washington,  where 


A   LEGACY   OF   THE   WAR.  183 

from  morning  to  night  was  heard  the  tramp,  tramp  of 
the  legions  that  had  been  through  the  fire,  carrying 
proudly  the  flags  that  had  been  torn  by  shot  and  shell. 
But  in  all  the  triumph  of  that  day  there  was  one  bitter 
sorrow  :  that  their  beloved  President  was  not  there  to 
answer  to  the  roll  of  the  drums  and  the  waving  of 
banners. 

The  assassination  of  Lincoln  was  a  national  calam 
ity.  Great  as  was  the  blow  to  the  North,  it  was  still 
greater  to  the  South,  which  lost  in  him  its  best  friend. 
But  for  that,  the  sufferings  of  both,  instead  of  being  a 
source  of  mutual  irritation,  might  have  brought  them 
into  a  sympathy  of  sorrow,  that  would  in  time  have 
softened  into  a  feeling  of  tenderness  even  among  those 
who  had  fought  against  one  another.  But  that  fearful 
tragedy  tore  open  the  old  wounds,  so  that  it  was  years 
before  they  could  be  healed. 

One  of  the  legacies  of  the  war  was  martial  law, 
which  is  the  law  of  barbarism,  that  must  be  endured 
so  long  as  the  savagery  of  war  continues,  but  which 
quickly  demoralizes  those  who  have  been  accustomed  to 
the  gentler  ways  of  peace.  To  soldiers  in  command  it 
very  soon  becomes  the  natural  course  of  justice,  with 
the  advantage  that  judgment  is  quick,  and  may  be  fol 
lowed  by  speedy  execution.  It  certainly  affords  great 
facilities  in  judicial  proceedings.  There  is  none  of  the 
"law's  delay,"  which  is  so  tedious  to  a  man  of  high 
spirit,  who  is  invested,  not  with  * '  a  little,  brief  author- 


184  MARTIAL   LAW   STILL   ENFORCED. 

ity,"  for  if  it  be  "brief,"  it  is  not  "little,"  as  it  involves 
the  power  of  life  and  death.  A  captain,  put  at  the 
head  of  a  command  in  the  backwoods,  in  his  small 
dominion  is  as  absolute  as  the  Czar  of  Russia.  Let 
him  but  fix  his  "glittering  eye"  on  some  backwoods 
man  who  does  not  do  him  reverence,  and  he  has  but 
to  send  a  troop  of  horse,  and  take  the  man  out  of  his 
cabin,  and  bring  him  before  a  "drum-head  court 
martial,"  and  he  can  be  tried,  sentenced,  and  shot 
and  buried  in  an  hour  I  He  need  not  fear  the  conse 
quences,  for  dead  men  tell  no  tales,  and  can  make 
no  appeals.  But  with  all  its  facilities,  this  '  'happy  des 
patch"  may  have  unexpected  issues.  In  his  haste  to 
do  justice  he  may  shoot  the  wrong  man  !  Such 
accidents  will  happen  now  and  then  to  a  soldier  who 
"  does  not  stand  on  ceremony,"  and,  under  the  form  of 
military  law,  he  may  be  guilty  of  a  cold-blooded  assas 
sination  ! 

This  was  one  of  the  abuses  of  power  on  both  sides 
that  are  almost  inevitable  in  a  civil  war.  But  I  speak 
here  only  of  our  own  sins,  not  of  the  sins  of  others.  In 
the  Northern  States,  and  especially  in  the  Border  States, 
there  was  many  a  man  who  was  suspected  of  want  of 
loyalty  to  the  government,  of  sympathizing  with  the 
enemy  ;  and  who  for  such  suspicion  was  branded  as  a 
"copperhead" — which  meant  a  rebel  in  disguise,  and 
very  thin  disguise  at  that — and  was  liable  to  be  arrested 
and  tried  before  a  court  martial,  and  executed,  before 


A   SENTENCE   TO   DEATH.  185 

there  was  an  opportunity  to  appeal  to  a  court  that  could 
stay  the  hand  of  the  executioner.  How  near  one  might 
come  to  the  scaffold,  even  though  he  escaped  it,  appears 
in  a  case  which  is  the  more  notable  as  it  occurred 
near  the  end  of  the  war,  after  the  capture  of  Atlanta, 
and  when  Sherman  was  preparing  for  his  March  to 
the  Sea. 

In  October,  1864,  a  man  in  Indiana  was  arrested  at 
his  home,  and  thrown  into  prison  at  Indianapolis,  and 
two  weeks  after  was  brought  to  trial  by  a  "military 
commission"  upon  "charges  of  conspiracy  against  the 
authority  of  the  United  States,  inciting  insurrection, 
disloyal  practices,  and  violation  of  the  laws  of  war  ! " 
This  was  a  vague,  general  charge,  that  would  seem  to 
be  barred  by  the  fact  that,  even  if  it  were  true,  a  mili 
tary  commission  had  no  business  to  try  it,  since  Indiana 
was  not  the  theatre  of  war,  and  no  more  under  martial 
law  than  Massachusetts.  If  a  man  had  been  disloyal 
to  his  government,  the  courts  were  open,  and  he  was 
entitled  to  be  tried,  not  by  soldiers,  who  were  not  the 
best  men  to  weigh  evidence,  but  by  a  judge  and  jury. 
There  was  clearly  a  "want  of  jurisdiction."  But  this 
objection  was  overruled — the  man  was  brought  before  a 
court  martial  and  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged  ! 
The  sentence  was  approved  by  the  President,  and  he  was 
to  be  executed  on  the  19th  of  May,  1865 — more  than  a 
month  after  the  surrender  of  Lee — a  grim  tragedy  to  be 
enacted  at  the  close  of  the  war,  in  the  first  joy  of  peace, 


186        BROUGHT   BEFORE   THE   SUPREME   COURT. 

to  send  to  the  gallows  a  man  who  had  never  taken 
up  arms  against  his  country  !  But  his  time  was  get 
ting  short.  It  was  but  little  more  than  a  week  to  the 
day  appointed  for  his  execution,  that  a  petition  was  filed 
in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for  Indiana, 
showing  that  a  grand  jury  of  that  Court  had  convened 
after  his  arrest,  but  that  no  indictment  had  been  found 
against  him  ;  and  that  he  had  at  no  time  been  in  the 
military,  naval,  or  militia  service  ;  nor  within  any  State 
engaged  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States  at  any 
time  during  the  war.  The  petition  demanded  that  he 
be  delivered  to  the  proper  civil  tribunal  to  be  tried,  or 
discharged  from  custody. 

The  defence  was  that  Congress  had  authorized  the 
President  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  during 
the  rebellion  !  Yes  :  but  that  authority  was  not  unlim 
ited  either  as  to  time  or  place  :  it  was  not  to  be  con 
tinued  after  the  war  was  over,  nor  was  it  to  be  exer 
cised  in  every  part  of  the  United  States.  Indeed  the 
act  expressly  excepted  ' '  States  in  which  the  adminis 
tration  of  law  had  not  been  disturbed,  where  any  who 
were  arrested  as  prisoners  should  be  brought  before  the 
Judges  of  the  United  States  Circuit  and  District  Courts, 
and  if  the  grand  jury  did  not  bring  in  an  indictment 
against  them,  they  were  to  be  discharged  !  " 

Here  then  was  the  question — whether  martial  law 
could  be  assumed  and  enforced  in  a  State  that  had  not 
been  touched  by  war  ;  and  a  private  citizen  could  be 


PART   OF   MR.    FIELD   IN   THE   CASE.  187 

seized  by  military  order  ;  tried  by  a  court  martial,  and 
sent  to  the  scaffold  ! 

The  case  was  one  that  appealed  very  strongly  to 
Mr.  Field,  and  he  entered  into  it,  not  as  a  matter  of 
professional  business,  but  from  a  sense  of  justice. 
While  the  war  lasted,  no  one  was  more  earnest  that  it 
should  be  carried  through  to  the  end.  But  when  the 
war  was  over,  it  was  time  that  the  Temple  of  Janus 
was  shut  ;  and  that  the  people  should  return  to  the 
ways  of  peace.  True,  some  ardent  partisans  thought 
the  advocate  was  deserting  his  principles ;  ' '  going  back  " 
on  his  party.  But  he  knew  no  party  in  the  Courts  of 
Law.  If  that  was  treachery  to  his  party,  he  had  at 
least  good  company,  for  there  stood  by  his  side,  not 
only  that  sturdy  old  Democrat,  Judge  Black,  of  Penn 
sylvania,  but  a  distinguished  Republican  who  had 
fought  in  the  war,  and  was  afterwards  President  of 
the  United  States,  General  Garfield.  But  the  burden 
of  the  argument  fell  on  Mr.  Field,  who  rose  to  the 
height  of  the  occasion,  in  exposing  the  injustice  of  car 
rying  martial  law  into  a  State  where  there  had  been  no 
war.  The  court  listened  in  fixed  attention  to  the  very 
last  word,  as  he  closed  in  a  tone  of  the  deepest  solemnity  : 

' '  Thus,  may  it  please  the  Court,  have  I  performed 
the  part  assigned  me  in  the  argument  of  this  case. 
The  materials  were  abundant.  I  only  fear  that  I  may 
have  wearied  you  with  the  recital  or  erred  in  the  selec 
tion.  I  could  not  look  into  the  pages  of  English  law  ; 


188  THE    CLOSE    OF   HIS   ARGUMENT. 

\  I  could  not  turn  over  the  leaves  of  English  literature  ; 
I  could  not  listen  to  the  orators  and  statesmen  of  Eng 
land  ;  without  remarking  the  uniform  protest  against 
martial  usurpation,  and  the  assertion  of  the  undoubted 
right  of  every  man,  high  or  low,  to  be  judged  accord 
ing  to  the  known  and  general  law,  by  a  jury  of  his 
peers,  before  the  judges  of  the  land.  And  when  I 
turned  to  the  history,  legal,  political,  and  literary,  of 
my  own  country — my  own  undivided  and  forever  indi 
visible  country — I  found  the  language  of  freedom  inten 
sified.  Our  fathers  brought  with  them  the  liberties  of 
Englishmen.  Throughout  the  colonial  history  we  find 
the  colonists  clinging,  with  immovable  tenacity,  to  trial 
by  jury,  Magna  Charta,  the  principle  of  representation, 
and  the  Petition  of  Right.  They  had  won  them  in 
the  fatherland  in  many  a  high  debate  and  on  many  a 
bloody  field  ;  and  they  defended  them  here  against  the 
mercenaries  of  the  crown  of  England.  We,  their  chil 
dren,  thought  we  had  superadded  to  the  liberties  of 
Englishmen  the  greater  and  better  guarded  liberties  of 
Americans. 

"These  great  questions,  than  which  greater  never 
yet  came  before  this  most  august  of  human  tribunals, 
are  now  to  receive  their  authoritative  and  last  solution. 
Your  judgment  will  live  when  all  of  us  are  dead.  The 
robes  which  you  wear  will  be  worn  by  others,  who  will 
occupy  your  seats  in  long  succession,  through,  I  trust, 
innumerable  ages  ;  but  it  will  never  fall  to  the  lot  of 


PUBLIC    OPINION    THEN    AND    NOW.  189 

any  to  pronounce  a  judgment  of  greater  consequence 
than  this.  It  will  stand  when  the  statue  which  with 
returning  peace  we  have  raised  above  the  dome  of  the 
Capitol  shall  have  fallen  from  its  pedestal,  its  sword 
broken  and  its  shield  scattered  in  pieces  ;  nay,  when 
the  dome  itself,  which,  though  uplifted  into  the  air, 
seems  immovable  as  the  mountains,  shall  have  crum 
bled  ;  it  will  stand  as  long  as  that  most  imperishable 
thing  of  all,  our  mother-tongue,  shall  be  spoken  or  read 
among  men. 

"That  judgment,  I  hope  and  I  believe,  will  estab 
lish  the  liberty  of  the  citizen  on  foundations  never  more 
to  be  shaken,  and  will  cause  the  future  historian  of  our 
greatest  struggle  to  write  that,  great  as  were  the  vic 
tories  of  our  war,  they  were  equalled  in  renown  by  the 
victories  of  our  peace. " 

This  was  the  language,  not  only  of  conviction,  but 
of  a  courage  which  cannot  be  fully  appreciated  at  this 
distance  of  time.  Now  the  case  seems  so  plain  that  we 
wonder  that  any  judge  on  the  bench  could  hesitate  a 
moment  as  to  his  decision.  But  thirty  years  ago  the 
people  of  the  North  were  thinking  of  their  dead  lying 
on  a  hundred  Southern  battle  fields.  To  say  a  word 
for  those  who  fought  against  us,  seemed  to  be  false  to 
our  country.  This  feeling  was  in  the  air,  and  could 
not  but  invade  the  bar  and  the  bench.  Though 
it  seems  now  that  there  could  be  but  one  side,  then 
there  were  two  ;  and  the  other  side  was  argued  by  a 


190  THE  END   OF  MARTIAL  LAW. 

lawyer  of  the  very  highest  rank,  Mr.  Stansbery  of  Cin 
cinnati,  then  Attorney- General,  supported  by  the  ability 
(which  no  one  could  dispute),  as  well  as  the  bull-dog 
pugnacity,  of  General  Butler.  That  their  arguments 
had  weight  was  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  court  was 
divided  ;  of  the  nine  judges  four  voted  to  sustain  the 
decision  of  the  court  martial,  which  would  have  sent 
the  prisoner  to  an  ignominious  execution.*  It  was  a 
narrow  escape,  but  one  of  immense  significance.  When 
the  prison  doors  were  opened  for  a  man  who  had  been 
standing  for  weeks  and  months  in  the  shadow  of  the 
scaffold,  it  was  a  signal  to  the  nation  that  martial  law 
was  ended  ;  that  the  reign  of  terror  was  over  ;  and  that 
the  reign  of  peace  and  justice  was  begun  ! 

So  far,  so  good  !     But  that  was  not  the  last  echo  of 
the  Civil  War.     If  disaffection  to  the  government  was 


*  The  opinion  in  the  case  was  written  by  Mr.  Justice  Davis 
of  Illinois,  of  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  was  wont  to  speak  as  "the  best 
friend  he  had  in  the  world. "  No  man  knew  better  the  natural 
sympathy,  even  to  tenderness,  of  the  late  President,  and  how, 
if  he  had  lived,  instead  of  taking  the  airs  of  a  conqueror,  who 
would  triumph  over  the  vanquished,  he  would  have  been  the 
first  to  pour  oil  into  their  wounds  ;  to  soothe  their  pride  ;  and 
to  turn  away  their  thoughts  from  the  sad  legacies  of  war  to  the 
brighter  hopes  of  peace.  In  reading  the  opinion  of  the  Justice, 
one  cannot  help  thinking  that,  both  in  its  preparation  and  deliv 
ery,  he  must  have  been  conscious  that  he  gave  expression,  not 
only  to  his  own  sense  of  justice,  but  to  what  would  have  been 
the  first  prompting  of  a  great  heart  that  had  ceased  to  beat. 


THE   TEST   OATH    CASES.  191 

not  a  capital  crime,  it  could  be  punished  in  other  ways. 
If  the  law  could  not  take  a  man's  life,  it  could  deprive 
him  of  the  means  of  subsistence  by  imposing  conditions 
that  would  shut  him  out  from  the  practice  of  his  pro 
fession.  This  was  effected  by  the  cunning  device  of  a 
"  Test  Oath,"  a  form  of  torture  worthy  of  the  Inquisi 
tion,  as  it  was  expressed  in  the  new  Constitution  that 
was  framed  for  the  State  of  Missouri,  in  which  a  man 
who  would  hold  an  office,  or  be  a  lawyer  or  a  minister 
of  the  Gospel,  must  swear  that  he  had  never  had  any 
part  in  the  Rebellion,  or  sympathy  with  it,  without 
which  oath  he  could  not  ' '  hold  any  office  of  honor,  trust, 
or  profit,  or  be  permitted  to  practice  as  an  attorney,  or 
counsellor  at  law  ;  nor  be  competent  as  a  bishop,  priest, 
deacon,  minister,  elder,  or  other  clergyman  of  any 
religious  persuasion,  sect,  or  denomination  !  "  The 
penalty  for  neglect  to  take  this  oath  was,  not  only 
immediate  stopping  of  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
but  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars,  and  imprisonment 
from  six  months  to  two  years  ! 

The  provision  of  the  Constitution  which  lays  down 
these  requirements  is  very  long  and  minute,  pointing 
out  the  offence  with  such  manifold  specifications  as  to 
show  that  it  was  a  net  carefully  woven  to  catch  the 
smallest  offender.  Or,  to  take  another  illustration,  it 
was  like  the  scythe  of  Father  Time, 

"  Which  cuts  down  all, 
Both  great  and  small." 


192  OPINION    OF    ALEXANDER   HAMILTON. 

Monstrous  as  all  this  was,  it  could  not  be  said  that 
it  was  a  new  thing  under  the  sun.  The  passion  for 
vengeance  after  war  is  as  old  as  history.  Rome  made 
her  captives  pass  under  the  yoke.  Nor  was  it  the  first 
time  that  it  had  appeared  in  American  history.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  there  were  in  the  colo 
nies  many  who  still  longed  for  peace,  and  who  could 
not  see  that  there  was  any  sufficient  reason  for  rushing 
into  war  with  the  mother  country  because  of  some  petty 
impost  such  as  a  tax  on  tea  !  But  they  were  branded 
as  Tories.  Some  moved  across  the  border  into  Canada  ; 
others  emigrated  to  Nova  Scotia.  Those  who  remained 
kept  very  quiet.  But  no  sooner  was  the  war  over 
than  they  were  required,  as  the  condition  of  citizen 
ship,  to  swear,  not  only  to  be  loyal  to  the  government, 
but  that  they  had  always  been  so  !  This  was  putting 
a  premium  upon  falsehood  and  perjury,  against  which 
Alexander  Hamilton  protested,  as  a  direct  violation  of 
our  Treaty  with  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  so  that  Mr.  Field,  in 
his  argument  against  Test  Oaths,  was  not  fighting  a 
new  battle,  but  only  against  the  same  injustice  that 
roused  the  indignation  of  Alexander  Hamilton  nearly 
a  hundred  years  ago. 

But  he  had  no  occasion  to  refer  to  a  treaty  with 
England  :  it  was  enough  to  appeal  to  our  own  Con 
stitution,  as  against  that  of  the  State  of  Missouri, 
which  contained  such  sweeping  disqualifications  that 


193 

it  must  be  itself  put  to  the  test  to  see  whether  it  did 
not  violate  a  higher  law.  To  this  end  it  was  first 
brought  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of 
Missouri,  which  upheld  it,  from  which  it  was  appealed 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  where  we 
are  now  to  follow  it.  As  if  to  show  in  full  relief  the 
' '  tall  heads "  that  it  was  to  strike  down,  the  test  case 
was  that  of  a  priest  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
who  had  been  convicted  by  the  State  courts  of  Missouri 
of  the  ''crime"  of  teaching  and  preaching  without 
having  taken  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  Constitution  ! 
Here  again  Mr.  Field  appeared  before  the  Court,  and 
in  the  very  opening  of  his  argument,  thus  analyzed 
the  new  form  of  Inquisitorial  justice : 

"Dividing  this  oath  into  all  its  separable  parts,  it 
will  be  found  to  contain  eighty-six  distinct  affirmations 
or  tests  !  It  is  both  prospective  and  retrospective  ;  that 
is  to  say,  it  speaks  from  the  time  when  it  is  actually 
taken  by  each  person,  and  relates  to  all  that  has  gone 
before  ;  so  that,  if  taken  by  Mr.  Cummings  (the  priest  *) 
now,  it  will  embrace  all  his  past  life,  and,  if  taken  five 
years  hence,  it  will  embrace  not  only  all  his  life  that  is 
now  passed,  but  the  five  years  from  this  time  forward. 

' '  Altogether,  it  is  a  novelty  in  this  country,  and  I 


*  There  was  also  the  case  of  a  lawyer  the  issue  of  which 
would  depend  upon  the  decision  in  this,  which  explains  the 
allusion  on  the  next  page  to  more  than  one  client. 


194  THE    STATE   AGAINST    THE    NATION. 

believe  it  is  a  novelty  in  the  world.  I  have  searched  in 
vain  for  anything  in  history  so  sweeping  and  severe. 

* '  The  State  of  Missouri  steps  between  the  Christian 
flock  and  its  pastor.  He  cannot  ascend  the  pulpit  and 
preach  to  a  devout  congregation  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  and  the  life  of  the  world  to  come  ;  he  cannot  teach 
the  forgiveness  of  sins  at  the  bedside  of  a  dying  peni 
tent  ;  he  cannot  bless  the  bride  at  the  altar  ;  without 
calling  God  to  witness  that  he  is  superior  to  all  these 
tests. 

' '  The  Supreme  Court  of  Missouri,  the  highest  tribu 
nal  known  to  the  laws  of  that  great  Commonwealth, 
has  affirmed  the  judgment  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and 
thereby  declared  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  political 
system  of  that  state  to  forbid  the  imposition  of  such  a 
test.  It  is  for  you,  Supreme  Judges  of  all  the  land,  to 
declare  whether  there  is  anything  in  the  political  system 
of  the  nation  to  forbid  it." 

The  legal  argument  which  follows,  though  not  so 
long  as  that  in  the  preceding  case,  which  made  an  end 
of  martial  law,  had  the  same  cumulative  force,  as  one 
proof  was  piled  upon  another,  till  the  advocate  dis 
missed  the  question  in  these  words  : 

' '  Here  I  leave  the  cases  of  my  clients — cases  impor 
tant  not  to  them  only,  but  to  the  whole  people  of  Mis 
souri.  That  State  was  born  in  conflict.  The  dispute 
about  her  admission  into  the  Union  seemed  likely  to 
divide  the  Union.  Slavery,  which  she  then  warmed  in 


THE  END   OF  TEST   OATHS.  195 

her  bosom,  stung  her,  viper  that  it  was.     The  poison  I 
entered  her  vitals,  and  she  has  been  purified  from  it 
only  by  blood  and  fire.     An  avenging  Nemesis  decreed  • 
that  her  deliverance  should  be  effected  through  suffer-  : 
ing  proportionate  to  her  error. 

"She  is  now  free.  This  oath,  so  vindictive  and 
repulsive,  is  her  last  deformity.  Let  her  be  rid  of  that,  j 

and  she  will  stand  erect  as  well  as  free. 

i 

' '  My  clients,  defeated  at  their  own  firesides,  seek 
protection  here.  They  know  that  to  this  chamber  they 
can  come  for  shelter,  as  fugitives  of  old  sought  refuge 
beside  the  altar.  You  stand  the  ultimate  arbiters  of 
constitutional  rights  ;  immovable,  however  tumultuous 
passions  may  surge  and  beat  around  you,  the  one  stable 
and  permanent  element  in  the  government  of  the  coun 
try.  Presidents  appear  and  disappear  like  shadows. 
Senators  and  Representatives  enter  the  doors  of  their 
chambers,  and  go  out  again,  no  one  knows  whither. 
You  remain  the  ornament  and  defence  of  the  Constitu 
tion — decus  et  tutamen." 

The  decision  of  the  Court  soon  sent  the  Test  Oaths 
in  the  way  of  Martial  Law,  and  it  was  a  special  pleas 
ure  to  Mr.  Field  that  the  opinion  was  delivered  by 
his  brother,  who  had  been  appointed  to  the  Bench  by 
President  Lincoln  in  circumstances  somewhat  peculiar.  * 


*  After  the  war  with  Mexico  the  discovery  of  gold  had 
caused  such  an  emigration  to  the  Pacific  Coast  that  California 
soon  had  a  population  that  justified  its  admission  as  a  State. 


196  THE   OPINION   BY   MR.    JUSTICE   FIELD. 

These  two  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  settled  two  great  questions,  and  settled 
them  forever.  There  was  no  more  danger  to  life  or 
liberty  by  martial  law,  or  that  a  man  should  be  deprived 
of  the  right  to  practise  his  profession,  because  he  could 
not,  or  would  not,  swear  that  he  had  taken  no  part  in 
the  Rebellion,  or  had  any  sympathy  with  it.  The  law- 

But  the  settlement  of  titles  to  land  was  made  very  difficult  by 
the  fact  that  large  tracts  were  overlaid  by  Spanish  grants  and 
Mexican  grants,  and  later  by  the  ' '  squatter  sovereignty  "  that 
seized  whatever  was  unoccupied.  This  conflict  of  claims  made 
endless  perplexity.  Whichever  way  a  case  was  decided,  it  was 
sure  to  be  appealed,  till  it  drifted  on  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  where  the  Judges  themselves  were  confused  by  the 
contradictoiy  opinions.  To  get  some  light  on  these  vexed  ques 
tions,  a  law  was  passed  by  Congress  creating  another  seat  on  the 
Supreme  Court,  to  be  filled  by  a  Judge  from  the  Pacific  Coast, 
whereupon  the  Senators  and  Representatives  from  California 
and  Oregon  went  in  a  body  to  President  Lincoln,  to  ask  for  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  Stephen  J.  Field,  then  Chief  Justice  of  Cali 
fornia,  whose  name  they  presented,  not  as  their  first  choice, 
but  as  their  only  choice.  While  the  nomination  was  pending, 
Mr.  John  A.  C.  Gray,  a  well  known  citizen  of  New  York,  and 
an  old  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  went  to  speak  to  him  about  it. 
He  found  the  President  agreed  entirely  in  the  fitness  of  Judge 
Field,  and  had  but  one  question  to  ask  :  "Does  David  want  his 
brother  to  have  it  ?"  "Yes,"  said  Mr.  Gray.  ''Then  he  shall 
have  it,"  was  the  instant  reply,  and  the  nomination  was  sent 
in  that  afternoon,  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate  unanimously. 
This  was  the  Justice  to  whom  it  fell  four  years  later  to  write 
the  opinion  in  the  Test  Oath  cases. 


id  settlor 
X)  life  01 


vnuld  not,  swea*  that  he  i«a 
the  Rebellion,  or  had  any  syinpotly  v»ii 

Hist  vh«?  settlement  of  titles  to  land  was  mad 
the  fa.ct  tluit  large  tracts  were  overlaid  'by  SJP 


Mexican 


s,  and  later  by  tl, 
ji'  was  unoccupied. 


from  tli' 


This 


SLAVERY   ABOLISHED    FOREVER.  197 

yer  was  free  to  practise  in  the  courts,  and  the  priest  to 
appear  in  the  pulpit  or  the  confessional,  or  kneel  at  the 
bedside  of  the  dying.  So  far  every  man  in  the  South 
had  recovered  his  freedom,  and  had  all  the  rights  ofi 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  But  where  were  the 
States  themselves  that  had  taken  part  in  the  Rebellion  ? 
Were  they  once  more  equal  members  of  the  Union,  or 
were  they  conquered  provinces  to  be  held  in  a  state  of 
vassalage  to  await  the  pleasure  of  the  conqueror  ?  If 
they  were  restored  at  once  without  conditions,  and  with 
their  old  institutions — slavery  and  all — they  would  be 
left  just  where  they  were  before,  and  would  need  but  a 
few  years  to  recover  their  strength,  when  the  battle 
might  be  renewed.  The  old  State  governments,  that 
had  been  fighting  the  Union  for  four  years,  could  not 
be  left  in  possession.  But  when  they  were  deposed, 
who  or  what  should  take  their  place  ?  There  must  be 
some  sort  of  government,  or  the  whole  South  would 
relapse  into  anarchy.  The  natural  suggestion  was  that 
a  commander  who  was  at  the  head  of  a  Department 
should  take  possession  of  the  State  Capital,  as  a  nucleus 
round  which  the  loyal  elements  might  gather  until  the 
time  of  full  reconstruction  should  come.  Meanwhile  the 
first  necessity  was  to  get  rid  of  Slavery.  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  issued  his  Proclamation  as  a  war  measure,  but  it 
was  all-important  that  it  should  be  confirmed  by  an 
amendment  imbedded  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  was  accomplished  in  the  Constitutional 


198  REIGN    OF   THE   CARPET-BAGGERS. 

way,  by  being  proposed  by  a  vote  of  Congress,  and 
confirmed  by  the  votes  of  three-fourths  of  the  States. 

When  this  was  done  so  that  it  could  not  be  undone 
—that  the  spectre  of  Slavery  and  Disunion  would  never 
come  back  to  plague  us — it  would  seem  as  if  the  Pro 
visional  Governments  in  the  South  had  accomplished 
their  mission,  and  might  be  allowed  to  depart,  to  return 
no  more.  But  what  authority  established  by  force  of 
arms  ever  willingly  resigned  its  power  ?  An  officer 
placed  in  absolute  control  of  a  State,  felt  the  dignity 
of  his  position,  and  would  make  the  most  of  it ;  and 
if  a  Legislature  was  refractory,  would  turn  it  out  of 
doors,  as  Cromwell  dismissed  the  Long  Parliament. 
Even  four  years  after  the  war,  when  General  Grant 
was  President,  General  Sheridan,  who  was  in  com 
mand  in  New  Orleans,  asked  permission  to  arrest  the 
whole  Legislature  of  Louisiana,  but  fortunately  the 
cooler  head  of  his  chief  restrained  the  impetuosity  of 
his  lieutenant. 

Meanwhile  the  reign  of  the  carpet-baggers  had 
begun,  and  men  who  had  hung  round  the  camps  dur 
ing  the  war,  but  never  showed  their  faces  in  the  front 
of  battle,  were  made  Governors,  and,  supported  by  a 
Legislature  of  negroes  just  off  the  plantations,  went  in 
for  a  general  spoliation.  There  was  not  much  left  in 
the  South  to  steal — the  freebooters  might  as  well  have 
undertaken  to  rob  the  dead — but  they  could  at  least 


IMPEACHMENT  OF  ANDREW  JOHNSON.      199 

issue  bonds,  which,  though  sold  at  a  low  rate,  would 
yet  accomplish  the  purpose  to  gather  in  the  spoils. 

How  long  this  would  have  continued,  and  how  far 
it  would  have  gone,  it  is  hard  to  say  if  the  inrolling  tide 
of  corruption  had  not  struck  against  the  breakwater  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  which  in  the 
memorable  ' '  McCardle  Case  "  took  in  review  the  wholf 
question  of  the  Constitutionality  of  the  Reconstruction 
Acts  of  Congress,  which,  its  opponents  claimed,  was  a 
flagrant  invasion  of  the  liberty  and  rights,  not  only  of 
a  single  individual,  but  of  millions  of  our  countrymen. 

In  this  case,  as  in  all  the  great  cases  that  he  under 
took,  Mr.  Field  threw  his  whole  soul  into  it.  He  was 
indignant  at  the  continuance  of  military  rule  after  the 
war  was  over  :  that  regiments  should  be  kept  in  Charles^ 
ton  and  New  Orleans  as  if  they  were  in  a  state  of  siege. 
When  was  the  reign  of  peace  and  of  law  to  begin  ? 

This  argument  has  a  special  interest  to  me  as  I  hap 
pened  to  be  in  Washington  at  the  time  and  heard  it  in 
part,  when  it  was  interrupted  by  a  singular  circum 
stance.  While  Mr.  Field  was  speaking  a  messenger 
came  to  summon  the  Chief  Justice  from  his  place  on 
the  bench  to  a  duty  to  which  no  Judge  had  ever  been 
called  before — to  preside  over  the  Senate  sitting  as  a 
Court  to  try  an  impeachment  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  !  This  postponed  the  case  in  the 
Supreme  Court  for  several  weeks,  when  Mr.  Field 
resumed  and  concluded  his  argument.  Without  under- 


200  THE     RECONSTRUCTION     ACT. 

taking  to  follow  it  in  detail,  it  is  enough  to  quote  a 
single  passage  to  show  the  vehemence  with  which  he 
spoke,  and  how  he  carried  his  position  by  the  continued 
thrust  of  questions  to  which  there  could  be  but  one 
answer  : 

"A  point  very  much  urged  in  the  argument,  and  constantly 
referred  to  in  public  speeches,  is  Necessity  !  These  military  gov 
ernments  of  the  South,  they  say,  are  legal  because  they  are 
necessary.  The  usual  phrase  is  :  '  This  government  has  a  right 
to  live,  and  no  other  government  has  a  right  to  contest  it ;  and 
whatever  Congress  determines  as  necessary  to  this  national  life 
is  right.'  What  necessity  do  they  speak  of  ?  There  is  no  Fed 
eral  necessity.  The  Federal  courts  are  open  ;  the  Federal  laws 
are  executed  ;  the  mails  are  run  ;  the  customs  are  collected. 
There  is  no  interference  with  any  commissioner  or  officer  of 
the  United  States  anywhere  in  the  country.  There  is  no  neces 
sity,  therefore,  of  a  Federal  kind  for  an  assumption  of  the  gov 
ernment  of  Mississippi.  What,  then,  is  the  necessity  ?  Is  that 
the  reason  why  the  military  government  is  there  ?  If  you  are 
to  wait  until  you  get  repentant  rebels — or  I  should  perhaps 
rather  say,  if  you  wait  until  you  make  rebels  repentant  by  fire 
and  sword — you  will  have  to  wait  many  generations.  Of  all 
the  arguments,  that  of  necessity  has  the  least  force.  '  We  will 
not  allow  the  Southern  States  to  govern  themselves,  because,  if 
we  do,  the  government  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  unrepentant 
rebels  ! '  Well,  what  is  that  to  you.  if  they  obey  the  laws — if 
they  submit  to  your  government  ?  Do  you  wish  to  force  them 
to  love  you  ?  Is  that  what  you  are  aiming  at  ?  Of  course,  it 
should  be  the  desire  and  the  aim  of  all  governments  to  make  the 
people  love  as  well  as  obey  ;  but  as  an  argument  for  a  military 
government,  it  is  an  extraordinary  one.  'Well  then,'  they  say, 


THE     PLEA     OF    NECESSITY.  201 

'  we  must  protect  the  loyal  men  at  the  South,  and  therefore  the 
military  government,  which  is  the  only  one  adequate  to  the  end, 
must  be  kept  up.'  To  that  I  answer,  first,  that  the  General  of 
your  armies,  the  person  upon  whom  this  extraordinary  power 
lias  been  thrown,  himself  certified  that  there  was  order  through 
out  the  South,  so  far  as  he  could  observe.  But  are  there  no 
other  means  than  military  coercion  ?  The  Union  men  of  the 
South,  we  have  been  told,  were  in  the  majority,  and  have  ever 
been  in  the  majority,  and  it  was  the  minority  by  which  the  people 
were  driven  into  secession.  Is  government  by  the  United  States 
necessary  to  sustain  the  majority — a  majority,  we  are  told,  of 
the  white  people  ?  They  say  that  secession  was  carried  by 
a  minority  of  the  whites  against  the  majority,  and  that  the 
majority  have  always  been  loyal.  That  is  a  perfect  answer, 
then,  to  the  objection.  '  Necessity '  is  the  reason  given  by 
tyranny  for  misgovernment  all  the  world  over.  It  was  the  rea 
son  given  by  Philip  II.  for  oppressing  the  Netherlands  by  the 
Duke  of  Alva  ;  it  was  the  reason  given  for  the  misgovernment 
of  Italy  by  Austria  ;  it  was  the  reason  given  for  the  misgovern 
ment  of  Ireland  by  England. 

'"This  Nation  has  a  right  to  live  ! '  Certainly  it  has,  and  so 
have  the  States,  and  so  have  the  people.  Every  one  of  us  has 
the  right,  and  the  life  of  each  is  bound  up  with  the  life  of  all. 
For  who  compose  my  nation,  and  what  constitutes  my  country  ? 
It  is  not  so  much  land  and  water.  They  would  remain  ever  the 
same  though  an  alien  race  occupied  the  soil ;  there  would  be  the 
same  green  hills,  and  the  same  sweet  valleys,  the  same  ranges 
of  mountains,  and  the  same  lakes  and  rivers  ;  but  all  these  com 
bined  do  not  make  up  my  country.  They  are  the  body  without 
the  soul.  That  word,  country,  comprehends  within  itself  place 
and  people,  and  all  that  history,  tradition,  language,  manners, 
social  culture,  and  civil  polity,  have  associated  with  them.  This 
wonderful  combination  of  State  and  nation,  which  binds  me  to 


202  THE   ACT   REPEALED   BY   CONGRESS. 

both  by  indissoluble  ties,  enters  into  the  idea  of  my  country. 
Its  name  is  the  United  States  of  America.  The  States  are  an 
essential  part  of  the  name  and  of  the  thing.  They  are  repre 
sented  by  the  starry  flag,  which  their  children  have  borne  on  so 
many  fields  of  glory,  the  ever-shining  symbol  of  one  Nation  and 
many  States.  They  are  not  provinces  or  countries  ;  they  are 
not  principalities  or  dukedoms  ;  but  they  are  free  republican 
States,  sovereign  in  their  sphere,  as  the  United  States  are  sover 
eign  in  theirs  ;  and  all  essential  elements  of  that  one,  undivided 
and  indissoluble  Country,  which  is  dearer  than  life,  and  for 
which  so  many  have  died.  As  the  State  of  New  York  would 
not  be  to  me  what  it  is,  if,  instead  of  the  free,  active  Common 
wealth,  it  were  to  subside  into  a  principality  or  a  province,  so 
neither  would  the  United  States  be  to  me  what  they  are,  if, 
instead  of  a  union  of  free  States,  they  were  to  subside  into  a 
consolidated  Empire.  For  such  an  Empire  we  have  not  borne 
the  defeats  and  won  the  victories  of  civil  war. 

The  case  had  this  further  remarkable  issue  :  that  it 
was  never  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court,  though  pre 
vious  decisions  indicated  clearly  what  the  result  would 
be.  Having  been  interrupted  while  the  impeachment 
of  Andrew  Johnson  was  going  on,  the  decision  was 
postponed,  perhaps  that  Congress  might  be  spared  the 
humiliation  of  having  its  own  act  declared  null  and 
void.  The  Court  therefore  deferred  judgment,  and 
the  act  was  speedily  repealed,  a  victory  in  another 
form,  which  emphasized  still  further  the  wantonness 
and  wickedness  of  this  cruel  legislation. 

After  such  heavy  bombardments  the  iron  gates  of 
military  rule  seemed  to  be  giving  way.     If  the  military 


THE   ENFORCEMENT    ACT.  203 

occupation  continued,  it  was  not  quite  so  arrogant. 
The  South  no  longer  felt  the  pressure  of  the  iron  hand. 
The  arguments  against  Military  Tribunals  for  Civilians, 
and  against  Test  Oaths,  had  done  their  work  ;  and  that 
in  the  McArdle  case  required  no  judicial  decision,  inas 
much  as  Congress  itself  hastened  to  repeal  the  act  in 
which  it  had  assumed  an  authority  which  it  did  not 
possess.  But  there  is  nothing  that  men  or  governments 
are  so  reluctant  to  abdicate  as  power,  and  if  it  be 
restrained  in  one  form,  it  will  appear  in  another.  There 
was  still  an  opportunity  for  Congress  to  accomplish  by 
indirection  what  it  did  not  dare  to  claim  openly.  The 
right  of  suffrage  had  been  given  to  the  colored  people  s 
of  the  South.  But  how  to  enforce  it  was  the  problem. 
To  that  end  Congress  passed  an  Enforcement  Act, 
which  provided  that  ' '  if  two  or  more  persons  should 
band  or  conspire  together  ...  to  injure,  oppress, 
threaten,  or  intimidate  any  citizen  with  intent  to  pre 
vent  or  hinder  his  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  any 
right  or  privilege,  granted  or  reserved  to  him  by  the 
Constitution  or  laws  of  the  United  States,  said  persons  | 
should  be  held  guilty  of  felony  !  "  Nearly  a  hundred 
persons  were  indicted  in  Louisiana,  eight  of  whom 
appeared  before  the  Circuit  Court,  and  three  of  them 
were  convicted,  from  which  they  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  This  was  the  famous 
Cruikshank  case,  in  which  Mr.  Field  appeared  for  the  j 
defendants. 


204  THE   ACCUSATION   OF   CONSPIRACY. 

The  act  had  been  skilfully  framed.  One  word  in 
it  was  enough  to  rouse  the  suspicions  of  the  North — 
the  word  "conspire,"  which  suggested  that  there  was 
a  dark  and  deep-laid  conspiracy  to  defeat  the  result  of 
the  war  by  secret  combinations  to  spread  terror  among 
the  colored  people,  and  so  to  drive  them  away  from  the 
polls,  and  deprive  them  of  the  fruits  of  their  new-born 
liberty.  To  this  Mr.  Field  replied  : 

"  An  accusation  of  conspiracy  is  of  all  accusations  the  most 
dangerous  to  meet,  and  the  easiest  to  make  men  believe,  in  an 
excited  community.  It  is  the  harshest  engine  of  tyranny  ever 
used  under  the  form  of  law  ;  and  its  frequent  use  is  the  strong 
est  evidence  of  niisgovernment.  From  the  bloody  days  when 
the  compassing  or  imagining  the  death  of  a  king  was  the  miser 
able  pretence  upon  which  tyrants  took  the  lives  and  confiscated 
the  estates  of  their  victims,  to  the  present  hour,  no  surer  proof 
of  good  or  evil  government  can  be  found  than  the  chapter  on 
conspiracies  in  the  statute-book  of  a  country.  One  has  but  to 
compare  the  statutes  of  well-governed  Connecticut  with  the 
statutes  of  misgoverned  Ireland,  to  learn  what  an  odious  engine 
of  oppression  is  the  law  of  conspiracy." 

But  his  main  argument  turned  on  the  relation  of 
the  States  to  the  general  government.  Overstrained 
as  had  been  the  doctrine  of  State  rights  by  the  South 
to  justify  secession,  yet  it  would  be  going  too  far  the 
other  way,  if  the  result  of  the  war  should  be  to  destroy 
the  States,  uniting  them  all  in  one  consolidated  govern 
ment.  The  States  still  existed,  not  to  be  overrun  and 
trampled  down  by  armies  or  by  undue  assumptions  of 


CONGRESS   CANNOT   DESTROY   A   STATE.  205 

the  central  authority.  If  Congress  could  by  its  action 
destroy  the  rights  of  the  States,  so  that  they  would  he 
but  weak  and  helpless  members  of  one  central  power, 
the  Republic  would  have  passed  into  a  Kingdom. 
And  when  it  undertook  to  lay  down  stringent 
prohibitions  as  to  interference  with  the  ballot  in  th§ 
States,  it  must  go  one  step  farther  and  consider  how  iti 
could  enforce  its  prohibitions  without  running  against 
the  buckler  of  State  sovereignty.  As  Mr.  Field  put  it  : 
"Congress  cannot  destroy  a  State.  If  to-morrow 
the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  should  pass  a  law 
denying  the  right  of  suffrage  to  every  colored  man  in 
the  Commonwealth,  Congress  could  not  authorize  the 
President  to  march  the  garrison  of  Fort  Warren  into 
the  State  House,  and  turn  the  members  out  of  doors. 
Why  could  not  Congress  do  this  ?  The  answer  is  that 
Massachusetts  is  a  self-existing  and  indestructible  mem 
ber  of  the  American  Union,  and  neither  Congress,  nor 
any  other  department  of  the  Federal  Government,  has 
power  to  destroy  any  essential  attribute  of  the  sover 
eignty  of  that  Commonwealth.  In  saying  this  I  am 
justified  by  recent  decisions  of  this  Court.  No  longer 
ago  than  1868  this  Court,  speaking  by  its  late  Chief 
Justice  (Mr.  Chase),  uttered  these  memorable  words, 
which  will  live  in  constitutional  history  as  long  as  the 
Constitution  lives  in  its  vigor  :  '  Not  only  can  there  be 
no  loss  of  separate  and  independent  autonomy  of  the 
States,  but  it  may  be  not  unreasonably  said  that  the 


206  AX   INDESTRUCTIBLE   UNION 

preservation  of  the  States  and  the  maintenance  of  their 
governments  are  as  much  within  the  design  and  care 
of  the  Constitution  as  the  preservation  of  the  Union 
and  the  maintenance  of  the  National  Government. 
The  Constitution  in  all  its  provisions  looks  to  an 
indestructible  Union  composed  of  indestructible 
States."  The  language  of  an  older  Judge,  the  ven 
erable  Justice  Nelson,  was  not  less  emphatic.  Five 
years  before  he  had  said  from  that  bench  :  '  *  The  Gen 
eral  Government  and  the  States,  although  both  exist 
within  the  same  territorial  limits,  are  separate  and 
distinct  sovereignties,  acting  independently  of  each 
other  within  their  respective  spheres.  The  former  in 
its  appropriate  sphere  is  supreme,  but  the  States  within 
the  limits  of  their  powers  not  granted  (or  reserved)  are 
as  independent  of  the  General  Government  as  that  gov 
ernment  within  its  sphere  is  independent  of  the  States. 
.  .  .  The  two  governments  are  upon  an  equality. 
In  respect  to  the  reserved  powers  the  State  is  as  sover 
eign  and  independent  as  the  General  Government. " 

Here  the  differences  of  opinion  were  distinctly  out 
lined.  The  two  positions  involved  two  theories  of 
government.  If  the  General  Government  were  to  take 
to  itself  all  that  came  within  the  range  of  life,  liberty 
and  protection,  what  was  there  left  for  the  State  Gov 
ernments  to  do  ?  Their  occupation  was  gone.  ' '  For 
what  is  there  in  the  world,"  said  Mr.  Field,  "for  State 
legislation,  but  life,  liberty,  and  the  protection  of  the 


OF  INDESTRUCTIBLE   STATES.  207 

law  ?  "  If  the  General  Government  assumed  this,  it 
assumed  everything,  and  the  States  were  but  the 
executors  of  its  imperial  will.  That  was  a  perfectly 
intelligible  form  of  government,  but  it  was  not  the 
government  that  was  established  by  the  fathers  of  the 
Republic  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
This  was  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  that  must  be  kept 
sacred  from  the  touch  of  any  destroying  hand.  In  the 
previous  generation  the  Constitution  had  the  greatest 
of  American  statesmen  as  its  Defender  and  Expounder. 
But  Mr.  Webster  never  saw  the  nation  under  such  a 
strain  as  that  of  the  Civil  War — a  convulsion  so  awful 
that  it  seemed  to  turn  back  the  course  of  nature,  and 
we  had  to  look  round  to  see  if  it  had  not  destroyed 
both  Liberty  and  Law  in  one  tremendous  ruin.  Then 
the  work  had  to  be  done  all  over  again  by  men  of  the 
post-bellum  period,  like  Mr.  Field,  who,  seeing  how 
vital  was  the  Constitution  to  the  National  existence, 
"compassed  it  about  on  every  side,"  buttressing  the 
ancient  walls,  till  now  the  Citadel  is  stronger  than  ever, 
standing 

"  Four  square  to  all  the  winds  that  blow/' 


CHAPTER  XV. 

WORK  AND  PLAY.     HOW  HE  "WARMED  BOTH 
HANDS  AT  THE  FIRE  OF  LIFE." 

The  greatest  service  that  Mr.  Field  ever  rendered  to 
his  country  (always  excepting  his  Codes)  was  the  long, 
stout  and  stubborn  fight  for  the  rights  of  the  South 
— a  contest,  not  in  battle,  nor  on  the  floor  of  Congress, 
but  in  the  highest  Court  of  the  land,  where  it  went  on 
year  after  year,  till  justice  triumphed  at  last,  but  only 
at  the  sacrifice  to  him  who  led  the  fight  of  many  old  ties 
and  friendships.  This  was  the  painful  thing  about  it, 
that  he  had  to  part  company  from  many  of  his  dearest 
friends,  to  whom  it  seemed  a  kind  of  treachery  to  the 
"grand  old  party  "  that  had  carried  the  country  through 
the  war,  to  unloose  its  iron  grasp  on  the  "conquered" 
States.  But  Mr.  Field's  party  ties  had  been  long 
weakening.  He  was  too  independent  to  be  a  politician. 
Though  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Free  Soil 
party,  and  took  all  the  hard  knocks  in  the  days  of  con 
flict,  he  left  to  others  the  spoils  of  victory  ;  while  his 
connection  with  the  Republican  party  may  be  said  to 
have  ended  with  the  death  of  Lincoln.  The  day  after 
the  funeral  he  had  an  interview  with  Andrew  Johnson, 


RETIRES   FROM   THE   REPUBLICAN   PARTY.         209 

in  which  they  discussed  the  political  future.  As  both 
had  been  old  Democrats,  they  were  agreed  as  to  the 
general  principles  of  republican  government.  In  the 
immediate  crisis  Mr.  Field's  most  earnest  hope  was 
that  the  new  President  would  carry  out  the  conciliating 
policy  of  his  predecessor.  But  Johnson  was  so  wanting 
in  tact,  that  he  was  soon  at  loggerheads  with  Congress, 
which  threatened  him  with  impeachment.  Yet  head 
strong  as  he  was,  Mr.  Field  always  thought  that  he 
was  right  and  Congress  wrong.  But  so  eager  was  the 
latter  to  crush  out  whatever  stood  in  its  way,  that  it 
did  not  always  stop  to  consider  its  own  constitutional 
powers.  Its  assumptions  of  authority  were  checked 
only  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  even 
then  the  policy  of  the  Government  was  to  rule  the 
South  by  force.  Seeing  this  tendency  in  the  Repub 
lican  party  towards  what  he  looked  upon  as  a  great 
political  heresy,  the  centralizing  of  all  power  in  the 
general  government ;  (a  power  that  had  become  still 
more  odious  by  giving  the  vote  to  millions  of  negroes, 
who  could  neither  read  nor  write  ;)  this  old  Free  Soiler 
gradually  withdrew  from  the  party  which  he  had  done 
so  much  to  create,  hoping  for  some  better  leadership 
from  the  lesson  of  sore  experience. 

But  the  administration  of  Grant  was  a  disappoint 
ment  almost  equal  to  that  of  Johnson.  He  was  a  great 
soldier,  but  he  carried  too  much  of  military  authority 
into  civil  life,  and  thought  he  could  govern  the  country 


210  HIS   LARGE   LEGAL   PRACTICE. 

as  he  commanded  the  army.  So  apparent  was  this 
that  many  of  those  who  had  supported  him  for  the  first 
term  hoped  that  his  own  good  sense  would  lead  him 
to  retire  with  dignity,  and  that  the  country  would 
choose  some  wise  statesman  to  preside  over  it.  But 
could  there  be  anything  more  grotesque  than  the  nomi 
nation  of  Horace  Greeley,  who,  with  all  his  talents  as 
an  editor,  was  a  man  of  great  weaknesses,  of  a  childish 
vanity,  which  those  about  him  would  use  for  their  own 
selfish  purposes  ?  So  absurd  did  the  nomination  appear, 
that  Mr.  Field  could  not  bring  himself  to  take  any  part 
in  the  canvass,  nor  even  to  cast  his  vote. 

Thus  relieved  from  all  political  ties,  he  was  free 
to  give  himself  up  wholly  to  his  legal  practice,  which 
had  grown  to  immense  proportions.  In  looking  over 
his  papers,  I  find  huge  folios  filled  with  reports  of  the 
great  cases  in  which  he  was  the  leading  counsel,  and 
I  am  amazed  at  the  multiplicity  and  variety  of  the 
questions  raised.  The  principles  of  law  may  be  few 
and  simple,  but  their  applications  are  infinite.  And 
here  comes  into  exercise  a  penetration  which  is  a  sort 
of  genius,  as  it  belongs  only  to  a  very  high  order  of 
mind,  a  quality  which,  when  united  with  eloquence  of 
speech,  makes  the  great  advocate  like  Rufus  Choate,  a 
combination  of  talents  that  is  inherited  by  one  who 
bears  that  illustrious  name.  * 


Mr.  Joseph  H.  Choate,  of  New  York. 


THE  JOY   OF   COMBAT.  211 

A  practice  so  large  was  of  course  a  constant  strain 
upon  Mr.  Field's  intellectual  and  even  physical  strength. 
But  did  he  count  it  a  hardship  ?  On  the  contrary,  it  gave 
him  the  keenest  enjoyment.  No  profession  is  a  drudgery 
to  him  who  is  a  master  of  it.  An  artist  loves  to  paint, 
if  he  can  paint  well,  and  a  great  advocate  is  not  unwill 
ing  to  show  the  "hidings  of  his  power."  The  harder 
the  case  the  better  !  The  more  it  tasks  his  strength, 
the  greater  its  fascination  !  He  is  attracted  by  its 
very  difficulties,  as  the  man  of  science  is  attracted  by 
a  problem  that  taxes  all  his  powers.  The  greater 
the  issue,  the  greater  the  courage  it  demands,  and 
the  strategy  in  laying  out  the  field  and  marshal 
ling  the  evidence.  But  in  all  this  there  is  a  mental 
excitement,  not  unmixed  with  pleasure,  especially  by 
one  who  is  conscious  of  his  strength,  and  is  of  that 
combative  temperament,  which  I  must  confess  was 
fully  developed  in  Mr.  Field.  As  he  was  very  positive 
in  his  opinions,  so  he  was  in  his  likes  and  dislikes. 
He  was  a  man  after  Dr.  Johnson's  own  heart,  who 
"loved  a  good  hater."  He  did  not  merely  have  a  mild 
disapprobation  of  wrong  :  he  hated  it,  and  hated  the 
man  that  did  the  wrong.  And  hence  he  looked  upon 
fighting  as  in  many  cases  not  only  the  natural  thing, 
but  the  right  thing.  If  this  wicked  world  was  ever  to 
be  reformed,  so  he  reasoned,  it  must  be  turned  upside 
down  ;  and  in  order  to  this  there  must  be  fighting  and 
a  great  deal  of  it.  It  was  one  of  his  maxims  that  the 


212  NOT   A   COLD,    HARD   MAN. 

only  men  who  made  any  lasting  impression  on  the 
world  were  the  fighters  !  Where  would  have  been  the 
Reformation  if  Luther  had  not  been  a  man  of  war  ? 
And  so  he  reasoned  that,  in  his  own  profession  of  the 
law,  "the  combat"  must  "deepen"  for  years,  and  per 
haps  for  generations,  if  there  was  to  be  any  progress. 

With  this  instinct  of  the  warrior,  he  never  counted 
the  odds,  though  he  should  be  warned  that  there  were 
many  adversaries,  nor  even  though  it  were  added  that 
there  were  giants  among  them  !  He  always  preferred 
"a  foeman  worthy  of  his  steel."  Nothing  irritated 
him  more  than  to  have  a  weak  opponent,  whose  mind 
was  so  flabby  that  there  was  nothing  to  take  hold  of, 
or  to  make  an  impression  upon.  But  give  him  a  pow 
erful  antagonist,  and  he  was  more  than  willing  to  take 
the  heaviest  blows,  as  it  was  with  him  a  point  of  honor 
to  return  them  with  interest. 

This  was  one  side  of  the  man.  But  were  it  all  I 
had  to  say  of  him,  it  would  do  him  great  injustice,  as 
it  would  give  the  impression  that  he  was  a  man  of 
iron  (as  he  was),  but  that  he  was  nothing  more  ;  that 
he  was  a  cold,  hard  man,  with  few  friends  and  many 
enemies  ;  and  withal  that  he  was  so  preoccupied  with 
the  duties  of  his  profession,  that  he  had  little  time  for 
the  courtesies,  the  amenities,  and  the  enjoyments  of  life. 

Nothing  could  be  more  unjust  or  untrue.     He  was 

indeed  a  many-sided  man,  engaged  in  manifold  activi 
ties,  and  enjoyed  them  all ;  and  was  inflamed  with 


SUMMER  IN   THE   COUNTRY.  213 

the  gaudium  certaminis — "the  rapture  of  the  strife" 
— when  he  entered  into  the  contests  of  the  bar. 

But  the  bravest  soldier  sometimes  longs  for  the  quiet 
of  his  tent,  and  no  one  ever  welcomed  it  more  than 
Mr.  Field.  Though  his  professional  life  was  in  the 
city,  he  loved  the  country.  He  was  a  country  boy, 
born  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  where  he  loved  to 
sail  on  the  broad  river,  or  to  ramble  among  the  hills — 
a  passion  that  remained  with  him  till  the  last  hour  of 
his  life.  When  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  his  father 
removed  to  Stockbridge,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  vil 
lages  of  New  England,  where  his  son,  even  when  grown 
to  manhood,  and  occupied  with  large  affairs,  always 
spent  his  vacations,  and  the  happiest  day  in  all  the  year 
was  that  on  which  he  turned  his  back  on  the  city,  and 
started  for  his  summer  home.  He  was  particular  as 
to  the  very  day  of  going,  and  would  take  his  flight,  if 
possible,  on  the  20th  of  May,  partly  because  it  was  his 
father's  birthday,  but  also  because  it  was  the  time  of 
the  apple  blossoms.  The  valley  of  the  Housatonic  is 
full  of  orchards,  which  are  then  all  aglow  with  their 
delicate  white  blossoms,  and  the  air  is  laden  with 
their  perfume. 

His  first  home  was  at  Laurel  Cottage,  near  the  foot 
of  Laurel  Hill,  which  Miss  Sedgwick  has  made  the 
scene  of  a  very  thrilling  passage  in  "Hope  Leslie"; 
but  a  few  years  later  he  bought  a  large  farmhouse, 
perhaps  a  hundred  years  old,  with  two  or  three  hun- 


214  HIS   MORNING   RIDES. 

dred  acres  of  ground,  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  that  is  a 
background  for  the  village  which  it  looks  down  upon, 
taking  in  the  valley  of  the  Housatonic,  and  having  a 
wide  sweep  of  mountains  all  round  the  horizon.  * 

About  the  same  time  I  bought  a  more  modest  farm 
house,  with  a  few  acres,  a  little  farther  to  the  West,  so 
that  we  saw  each  other  every  day,  and  almost  every 
hour  of  the  day.  He  was  very  regular  in  his  habits, 
rising  early  for  his  morning  ride,  in  which  I  was  often 
his  companion.  Nothing  could  be  more  exquisite  than 
those  rides  over  the  hills,  drinking  in  the  dewy  fresh 
ness  of  the  morning  air,  with  the  song  of  birds,  and  all 
the  sights  and  sounds  that  mark  the  wakening  of 
nature  to  a  new  day's  life.  If  I  was  detained  from 
going,  I  kept  a  lookout  for  him,  and  saw  him  at  a  dis 
tance,  as  that  tall  figure  came  up  the  road  under  the 
willows,  and  if  he  caught  sight  of  me,  he  was  sure  to 
turn  into  our  grounds  and  ride  up  to  the  door  to  give 
me  his  morning  salutation.  He  had  been  accustomed 
in  his  boyhood  to  hear  the  old  divines  of  New  England 
speak  of  this  world  as  "a  wilderness,"  which  was  fit 
only  for  a  state  of  probation,  and  would  call  out  to  me, 
4 'Well,  Henry  !  for  this  'wilderness  world'  this  is 
pretty  good  !  "  and  then  turn  with  a  hearty  laugh,  and 
ride  away,  repeating  some  fragment  of  poetry,  of  which 


*  Dean  Stanley,  who  spent  several  days  with  Mr.  Field,  said 
the  view  was  the  most  beautiful  he  had  seen  in  America. 


WHEN   DAYS  WERE   DARK   AND   DREARY.          215 

his  head  was  always  full.  If  it  was  after  the  summer 
was  past,  I  could  hear  faintly  the  murmur  of  the  famil 
iar  lines  : 

"  Ere,  in  the  Northern  gale, 

The  Summer  tresses  of  the  trees  are  gone, 
The  woods  of  Autumn,  all  around  our  vale, 
Have  put  their  glory  on."  * 

Nor  was  he  limited  to  his  morning  rides.  Such  was 
the  exhilaration  of  being  in  the  country,  and  living  in 
the  open  air,  that  he  was  always  getting  up  excursions 
to  Monument  Mountain,  or  Mount  Everett  at  one  end 
of  the  county,  or  Greylock  at  the  other,  from  which 
he  now  and  then  rode  over  the  mountains,  and  came 
down  into  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut. 

But  the  climate  of  New  England  is  variable,  and 
sometimes  even  in  midsummer  there  was  a  day  that 
was  dark  and  dreary.  But  the  sudden  change  did  not 
trouble  him.  He  was  but  too  glad  to  have  the  excuse 
for  a  blazing  fire,  where,  stretched  in  an  easy  chair,  his 
" creature  comforts"  were  complete,  and  if  he  had  a 
few  friends  around  him,  he  asked  for  nothing  more. 
Then  was  the  time  to  see  him  at  his  best,  as  he  was 
free  from  care,  and  running  over  with  reminiscences  of 
past  years  and  distant  lands. 


*  Written  by  Bryant  when  he  was  a  young  lawyer  in  Great 
Barrington,  and  published  in  the  United  States  Literary  Gazette, 
October  15th,  1824. 


216  READING   POETRY    AND    THE   BIBLE 

From  this  animated  conversation  he  would  turn  to 
reading.  He  had  but  little  taste  for  music  or  painting. 
He  was  not  a  connoisseur  of  pictures,  and  he  hardly 
knew  one  tune  from  another.  But  he  devoured  books. 
He  was  fond  of  poetry,  and  had  innumerable  pieces 
at  his  tongue's  end.  Even  the  dullest  listener  could 
not  but  be  roused  by  his  ringing  voice,  as  he  read 
"The  Ride  of  Paul  Revere"  and  " How  they  brought 
the  good  news  to  Ghent. "  Then  turning  to  Milton,  he 
would  quicken  his  pace  to  the  dancing  gait  of  L' Allegro, 
and  after  a  pause  reduce  it  to  the  slow  and  measured 
steps  of  II  Penseroso. 

But  for  sublimity  of  style  there  was  nothing  to 
him  like  the  Bible.  As  he  had  been  brought  up 
to  read  it  at  morning  prayers,  he  was  familiar  with 
it  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  and  turned  to  it  for 
its  poetry  and  its  eloquence.  In  this  he  was  like  Mr. 
Webster,  of  whom  the  late  Chief  Justice  Chapman,  of 
Massachusetts,  once  told  me  that  the  greatest  intellect 
ual  treat  of  his  life  was  in  hearing  him,  not  in  a  public 
lecture,  but  in  private  conversation,  discourse  of  the 
Book  of  Job,  of  which  he  would  talk  by  the  hour,  and 
on  which  he  had  sometimes  wished  to  write  a  com 
mentary  !  Mr.  Field  had  the  same  enthusiasm  for  his 
favorite  psalms,  such  as  ' '  The  Lord  is  my  shepherd, 
I  shall  not  want "  ;  and  Luther's  psalm,  ' '  God  is  our 
refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble." 
In  certain  passages,  such  as  ' '  They  that  go  down  to 


THE   FOUR   BROTHERS.  217 

the  sea  in  ships  ;  that  do  business  in  great  waters  ; 
these  see  the  works  of  the  Lord  and  his  wonders  in  the 
deep  "  ;  there  was  a  majestic  roll  like  the  roll  of  the  sea, 
to  which  there  came  back  a  response  like  the  sound  of 
many  waters,  ' '  Oh  that  men  would  praise  the  Lord 
for  his  goodness  and  for  his  wonderful  works  to  the 
children  of  men  !  "  But  his  enthusiasm  did  not  stop 
with  the  poetry  of  the  Bible  :  he  found  poetry  in  its 
prose  :  in  the  stately  rhythm  of  the  old  Hebrew,  as  in 
Solomon's  dedication  of  the  Temple,  or  Jacob's  farewell 
to  his  sons.  I  can  hear  him  now  reading:  "Reuben, 
thou  art  my  first-born  ;  my  might  and  the  beginning 
of  my  strength,"  and  "The  sceptre  shall  not  depart 
from  Judah,  nor  a  law-giver  from  between  his  feet, 
till  Shiloh  come,  and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of 
the  people  be." 

These  are  sweet  memories  of  a  brother's  life,  but 
there  was  something  nearer  and  sweeter  still.  While 
he  had  good  will  toward  all  men,  his  affection  was 
reserved  for  an  inner  circle,  into  which  no  stranger 
could  intrude.  What  he  was  to  his  daughter  and  her 
children  will  appear  in  the  next  chapter,  when  we  follow 
him  in  pursuit  of  them  round  the  globe.  But  what  he 
was  to  his  brothers  I  can  tell.  Our  father's  family  was 
a  large  one — ten  children  in  all — eight  sons  and  two 
daughters.  But  one  by  one  they  dropped  away,  till, 
a  full  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  the  two  sisters  and 
four  of  the  eight  brothers  were  gone,  leaving  behind 


218  HE   TOUCHED   LIFE   AT   EVERY   POINT. 

Dudley,  Stephen,  Cyrus,  and  myself,  as  the  only  sur 
vivors.  As  three  of  us  lived  in  New  York,  it  needed 
only  a  visit  from  the  Judge  in  Washington  to  bring  us 
all  together.  Those  were  our  happiest  moments,  when 
we  could  sit  round  one  small  table — "we  four  and  no 
more  !  " — and  all  be  boys  again.  We  talked  of  all 
things  past,  present  and  to  come  ;  of  school  days  and 
College  days  ;  of  our  modest  ambitions  as  we  looked 
out  from  the  Berkshire  Hills  upon  the  great  world  at 
a  distance,  and  began  to  dream  dreams  and  to  see  vis 
ions  ;  of  our  early  struggles  and  disappointments  ;  and 
of  the  varied  life  of  the  after  years.  Into  all  this  no 
one  of  us  entered  with  more  of  abandon  to  the  spirit  of 
the  hour.  As  he  talked  of  his  youth,  his  youth  came 
back  again  ;  the  old  light  was  in  his  eyes  ;  and  an 
inexpressible  sweetness  (of  which  no  man  had  more  for 
those  he  loved)  flushed  in  the  noble  countenance.  And 
now — as  I  think  of  the  immense  vitality  that  carried 
him  into  his  ninetieth  year ;  of  the  great  part  that  he 
acted  in  the  world  ;  and  of  all  that  he  was  to  us  who 
knew  him  best  ;  whereby  he  drew  to  himself  love  at 
home  and  honor  abroad — it  seems  as  if  he  touched  life 
at  every  point,  and  got  out  of  it  as  much  as  it  had  to 
give,  or  that  was  worth  living  for.  If  it  were  all  to 
be  put  in  a  single  line,  I  know  of  none  more  fitting 
than  that  which  was  written  of  Walter  Savage  Landor, 
"  He  warmed  both  hands  at  the  fire  of  life  !  " 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

AN    INTERNATIONAL    CODE.       ARBITRATION    INSTEAD 
OF    WAR. 

The  year  1866  will  be  memorable  in  history  as  that 
in  which  two  hemispheres  were  united,  so  that  it  could 
be  said,  in  a  real  and  true  sense,  that  there  was  no 
more  sea  !  The  honor  of  that  great  achievement  be 
longs  to  an  American,  as  was  fully  recognized  by  the 
best  authorities,  who  knew  its  whole  history  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  such  as  Lord  Kelvin  and  the  late 
Sir  James  Anderson  and  Sir  John  Fender.  There  was 
nothing  in  which  the  Great  Commoner  of  England,  John 
Bright,  delighted  more  than  to  refer,  as  he  did  in  his 
speeches  again  and  again,  to  "his  friend  C v£as^Field, " 
as  ' '  the  Columbus  of  our  time,  who,  after  no  less  than 
forty  voyages  across  the  Atlantic  in  pursuit  of  the  great 
aim  of  his  life,  had  at  length  by  his  cable  moored  the 
New  World  close  alongside  the  Old  !  "  That  magnifi 
cent  tribute  was  simple  justice.  But  there  was  an  inside 
history  to  the  great  undertaking.  No  one  outside  of  his 
own  family  will  ever  know  the  terrible  strain  of  those 
twelve  long  years,  and  how  the  spirit  of  the  projector, 
when  cast  down  by  defeat,  was  rallied  and  reanimated 


220  HIS    LOVE    OF   ENGLAND. 

by  the  undaunted  courage  of  his  eldest  brother,  who  saw 
in  this  iron  link  between  the  two  countries,  not  only  a 
commercial  benefit  to  both,  but  a  new  tie  drawing  nearer 
together  those  who  were  of  the  same  blood.  Now  that 
the  work  was  done,  and  that  the  two  countries  were  no 
more  divided  by  the  sea,  but  were  literally  within  speak 
ing  distance,  why  could  they  not  be  brought  into  the 
closest  relations  of  mutual  confidence  ? 

This  was  a  dream  that  Mr.  Field  had  long  cherished. 
Every  summer  he  spent  a  few  days  or  weeks  in  England, 
where  he  had  a  large  acquaintance  with  public  men — 

awyers  and  judges,  and  members  of  Parliament — among 
whom  he  found  a  great  liberality  of  thought  on  all  polit- 

cal  questions.  Indeed  he  often  said  that,  while  America 
was  more  democratic  in  her  institutions,  there  was  more 

ndividual  independence  in  England.    We  were  too  much 

n  bondage  to  parties,  or  to  public  opinion,  the  most 
despicable  tyrant  that  ever  reigned  over  a  high-spirited 

3eople.  A  democracy  might  be  the  most  galling  tyranny 
in  the  world.  Better  have  one  tyrant  than  a  thousand  ! 
Hence  he  felt  that,  in  the  great  lesson  of  good  govern 
ment,  we  had  much  to  learn  as  well  as  much  to  give. 
So  he  exchanged  experiences  with  his  English  friends 
with  the  utmost  frankness,  both  assured  that,  no  matter 
how  many  defeats  the  cause  of  liberty  might  suffer, 
right  and  justice  would  prevail  at  the  last :  that 

"  Freedom's  battle  once  begun, 
Though  often  lost,  is  ever  won." 


A   NEW   HOLY   ALLIANCE.  221 

The  first  thing  was  to  have  a  perfect  understanding 
between  the  two  countries.  To  this  end  he  spoke  in 
England  as  he  spoke  in  America,  with  the  utmost  frank 
ness  ;  aiming  to  exorcise  distrust  wherever  he  found  it 
on  either  side,  and  to  allay  the  sensitiveness  that  made 
it  a  matter  of  pride  that  each  should  stand  in  armed  de 
fiance  of  the  other.  Such  an  attitude  of  jealousy  and 
suspicion  was  unworthy  of  either.  Instead  of  this  he 
would  that  there  should  be  a  union  in  the  two  peoples 
of  all  true-hearted  men — the  good,  the  wise,  and  the 
brave — in  a  brotherhood  that  might  in  time  take  a  legal 
form  by  act  of  Congress  and  of  Parliament.  Nor  need 
it  stop  there,  but  extend  from  country  to  country,  till 
all  nations  should  be  bound  together  in  a  Holy  Alliance, 
not  of  despots  and  tyrants,  but  of  the  kindred  races  of 
mankind. 

That  very  year  (1866)  Mr.  Field  was  present  at  a 
meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Promotion  of 
Social  Science  at  Manchester,  and,  perhaps  inspired  by 
the  great  event  that  had  sent  an  electric  thrill  through 
two  continents,  he  proposed  the  appointment  of  a  com 
mittee  to  prepare  the  Outlines  of  an  International  Code,  * 


*  Happily  this  scene  is  not  left  entirely  to  the  imagination. 
At  the  time  an  enterprising  searcher  after  situations  that  prom 
ised  to  be  turning  points  of  history,  took  a  photograph  of 
"Mr.  Field  proposing  the  preparation  of  an  International  Code," 
in  which  appear  the  well-known  faces  of  some  of  England's  most 
illustrious  men. 


222  THE    COMMUNITY    OF   NATIONS. 

which  it  should  report  for  correction  and  amendment, 
and  that,  when  thus  completed,  should  be  presented 
to  the  different  countries  represented  for  their  adoption. 
The  suggestion  was  welcomed  with  enthusiasm,  and 
a  committee  of  eminent  jurists  appointed  on  the  spot. 
But  when  it  came  to  carrying  it  out,  they  found  an 
embarrassment  from  their  wide  separation,  so  that  each 
one  would  have  to  work  as  it  were  "  at  arm's  length," 
when  they  needed  to  be  in  constant  consultation. 
Mr.  Field,  however,  did  not  lose  heart  or  hope,  but 
returned  to  the  charge  the  next  year  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Association  in  Belfast,  in  an  address  on  the 
Community  of  Nations  ;  all  of  which  were  one  in  that 
their  interests  were  one  ;  while  England  and  America 
were  so  bound  together  by  ties  of  blood  that  war 
between  them  would  be  nothing  less  than  fratricide. 
No  matter  which  was  victorious,  it  would  be  an 
unspeakable  calamity  to  both.  He  said  : 

' '  We  may  look  upon  England  and  America  f rowning  at  each 
other  across  the  Atlantic  ;  mutually  jealous,  slow  to  redress 
injuries,  and  ready  to  offer  or  receive  affronts.  Stimulated  by 
bad  men,  in  the  passionate  madness  of  the  hour,  they  rush  into 
war  for  what  is  foolishly  called  the  supremacy  of  the  seas.  Let 
it  become  an  internecine  war.  We  should  fight  each  other  by 
sea  and  land.  There  would  be  battles  in  the  Atlantic,  the 
Pacific,  and  the  Indian  Oceans.  Wherever  we  could  strike  each 
other,  we  should  strike.  You  would  batter  down  some  of  our 
towns,  and  we  some  of  yours.  Timid  merchantmen  flying  from 
pursuing  cruisers,  burning  houses  along  the  coasts,  and  ships 


A   FRATRICIDAL   WAR.  223 

sunk  upon  the  sea,  would  bear  witness  to  the  madness  and  fury 
of  the  great  contending  nations.  At  the  end  of  all,  after  each 
had  burned  and  killed  enough,  one  might  be  driven  from  the 
sea,  leaving  the  other  in  undisputed  supremacy.  But  would 
either  be  better  off  than  when  the  war  began?  Would  the 
beaten  and  humiliated  combatant  be  as  useful  to  the  victor  as 
before  ?  Would  the  victor  be  wiser,  better,  or  happier  ;  to  say 
nothing  of  that  store  of  hate  which  would  be  accumulated  and 
laid  aside  for  the  renewed  strife  of  a  later  generation  ?  Would 
the  merchants  of  London  and  New  York,  or  of  Belfast  and  Bos 
ton,  have  gained  by  turning  rich  and  useful  customers  into 
exasperated  and  impoverished  enemies  ?  Would  the  institutions 
of  England  or  America  be  improved  by  the  conflict?  Would 
not  the  wealth  and  culture  of  both — all,  indeed,  which  makes 
man  better  and  happier  in  each — be  lessened  in  the  waste  and 
desolation  of  the  struggle  ?  " 

This  was  not  the  language  of  fear,  deprecating  a 
contest  for  which  one  side  was  unprepared — it  was  the 
manly  utterance  of  reason  and  justice,  spoken  in  the 
name  of  humanity,  and  in  the  name  of  Almighty  God, 
who  is  the  Father  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and 
would  have  His  children  dwell  together  in  unity. 

That  this  might  be  our  inheritance  forever,  it  should^ 
not  be  left  to  rest  only  on  sentiment,  but  be  assured  by 
a  recognition  of  the  Community  of  Nations,  which  were 
indeed  but  separate  members  of  one  great  family. 
This  was  a  part  of  modern  civilization,  of  which  the 
ancients  knew  nothing.  Two  thousand  years  ago 
every  state  that  was  conscious  of  its  power  stood  apart, 


224       BROTHERHOOD    BORN   WITH    CHRISTIANITY. 

sovereign  and  alone,  in  proud  isolation  and   defiance  : 
"  Old  empires  sat  in  sullenness  and  gloom," 

hardly  recognizing  a  common  humanity.  In  the  Latin 
language  the  very  word  hostis  meant  at  once  stranger 
and  enemy.  There  was  no  right  but  that  of  the 
strongest.  As  Rome  and  Carthage  looked  across 
the  Mediterranean,  the  highest  ambition  of  each  was 
to  destroy  the  other.  The  Carthaginians  claimed  the 
supremacy  of  the  sea,  and  if  any  strange  sail  rose  above 
the  horizon,  they  pursued  it  as  if  it  were  a  pirate,  and 
seized  its  crew  and  threw  them  overboard.  1ST  or  did  a 
Roman  feel  that  he  violated  any  law,  human  or  divine, 
if  he  killed  a  Carthaginian.  That  two  great  powers, 
looking  out  upon  the  same  blue  sea,  could  live  as 
friendly  neighbors,  never  occurred  to  them.  The  idea 
of  the  brotherhood  of  the  whole  human  race  was  born 
with  Christianity. 

But  century  after  century  had  to  come  and  go  before 
this  brotherhood  was  recognized  among  communities 
and  states.  It  was  not  till  what  are  comparatively 
modern  times,  less  than  three  hundred  years  ago,  that 
Grotius  gave  form  to  international  law  in  his  great 
work  on  the  Rights  of  War  and  Peace  [De  Jure  Belli 
et  Pacis],  which  was  followed  by  Pufendorf  some  fifty 
years  after.  But  what  they  wrote  then  may  not  serve 
the  purpose  now,  for  this  is  not  the  same  world  as  that 
of  Grotius  and  Pufendorf.  The  nations  do  not  stand 


THE   COUNTRIES   DRAWING   NEARER.  225 


apart  as  they  did  three  hundred,  or  one  hundred,  or  even 
fifty  years  ago.  The  ends  of  the  earth  are  coming 
together  till  it  may  almost  be  said  that  there  are  no 
more  "foreign  countries."  With  our  ease  of  commu 
nication  it  is  as  if  we  were  of  one  language  and  of  one 
speech,  and  international  communication  leads  almost 
of  necessity  to  international  law.  But  it  may  be  more 
easy  to  understand  one  another's  language  than  their 
ideas  of  justice.  If  those  who  are  brought  in  contact 
were  homogeneous,  their  relations  would  easily  adjust 
themselves.  But  in  many  cases  their  ways  and  ours 
are  not  only  different,  but  antagonistic,  as  we  are  of 
different  races  and  religions.  There  are  in  the  world 
a  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  Moslems,  to  whom 
the  only  law  is  that  of  the  Koran,  so  that  between 
Egyptians  and  Englishmen  justice  has  to  be  adminis 
tered  by  mixed  tribunals  composed  of  representatives 
of  both.  With  such  confusion  of  ideas,  it  is  not  always 
possible,  even  with  the  best  intentions,  to  be  just  to 
others,  and  just  to  ourselves. 

Who  then  shall  make  the  law  for  nations  ?  Is  it  not 
almost  inevitable  that  it  will  be  made  by  force  ;  that  the 
will  of  the  stronger  will  be  imposed  upon  the  weaker  ? 

And  where  should  a  reformer  begin  ?  Was  it  necesh 
sary  to  turn  upside  down  the  whole  fabric  of  existing 
law,  crude  as  it  might  be  ?  By  no  means.  Mr.  Field 
was  no  iconoclast  to  break  in  pieces  the  idols  of  the  past  J 
His  idea  was  not  to  destroy,  but  to  improve.  The  world 


226  WHAT   IS   INTERNATIONAL   LAW  ? 

would  move  slowly  at  best,  but  it  might  be  kept  moving 
in  the  right  direction.  With  no  visionary  dreams  of  a 
millennium,  or  of  an  ideal  state  of  society,  he  believed 
that  it  was  possible  for  nations  to  adjust  their  relations 
to  one  another  on  such  a  broad  plane  of  fairness  and 
mutual  benefit,  that  they  should  no  longer  dream  of 
the  glory  of  conquest  as  the  height  of  their  ambition. 

But  the  preservation  of  peace  was  only  one  part  of 
International  Law,  though  it  might  be  the  most  impor 
tant  part.  Yet  in  its  full  extent  it  included  all  the  rela 
tions  of  one  country  to  another.  As  Mr,  Field  puts  it  : 

"International  law  is  that  body  of  rules  recognized  among 
nations,  defining  their  rights  and  duties  toward  each  other,  and 
the  rights  and  duties  of  their  people  respectively,  as  growing  out 
of  international  relations.  The  law  is  vast  in  extent  and  infinite 
in  detail.  It  encircles  the  earth,  holds  or  assumes  to  hold  the 
strongest  nations  in  its  grasp,  and  affects  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  the  relation  of  every  human  being.  You  may  intrench 
yourself  in  camps  and  fortresses,  yet  its  voice  will  reach  you  ; 
you  may  take  the  wings  of  morning,  but  you  cannot  escape  its 
presence.  Its  office  is  to  regulate  the  conduct  of  your  own 
nation  toward  all  other  nations  and  all  strangers  ;  and  to  govern 
and  protect  you  into  whatever  part  of  the  world  you  go.  No 
sovereign  is  so  haughty,  no  subject  so  poor,  as  to  be  beyond  its 
authority.  It  knows  neither  latitude  nor  longitude,  wears  the 
same  face  under  northern  and  southern  skies,  and  utters  one 
voice  to  the  Caucasian,  the  African,  and  the  Mongolian." 

So  vast  was  the  realm  over  which  International  Law 
had  sway.  It  was  a  power  like  gravitation  that  held 


LORD  RUSSELL  ON  THE  CODE.        227 

the  world  together.  But  to  some  it  seemed  to  be  an 
indefinite  and  almost  intangible  thing,  which  it  was 
quite  impossible  to  reduce  to  any  fixed  form.  It  was 
like  one  of  the  forces  of  nature,  which,  however  power 
ful,  could  not  be  confined,  and,  as  it  were,  imprisoned 
within  the  iron  bars  of  a  Code.  So  thought  Lord 
Russell,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England,  who  is  cer 
tainly  one  of  the  first  authorities  in  the  world.  In  a 
recent  Address  before  the  American  Bar  Association, 
he  refers  to  the  work  of  Mr.  Field,  but  thinks  he  at 
tempted  the  impossible.  He  says : 

"  The  rules  of  international  law  are  not  to  be  traced  with  the 
comparative  distinctness  with  which  municipal  law  may  be 
ascertained.  I  would  not  advocate  the  codification  of  interna 
tional  law.  The  attempt  has  been  made,  as  you  know,  by  Field 
in  this  country,  and  by  Professor  Bluntschli  of  Heidelberg,  and 
by  some  Italian  jurists,  but  has  made  little  way  towards  success. 
Indeed,  codification  has  a  tendency  to  arrest  progress.  It  has 
been  so  found,  even  where  branches  or  heads  of  municipal  law 
have  been  codified,  and  it  will  at  once  be  seen  how  much  less 
favorable  a  field  for  such  an  enterprise  international  law  pre 
sents,  where  so  many  questions  are  still  indeterminate.  After 
all  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  jural  law  in  its  widest  sense  is  as 
old  as  society  itself  ;  ubi  societas  ibi  jus  est ;  but  international 
law,  as  we  know  it,  is  a  modern  invention.  It  is  in  a  state  of 
growth  and  transition.  To  codify  it  would  be  to  crystalize  it  ; 
uncodified  it  is  more  flexible  and  more  easily  assimilates  new 
rules.  While  agreeing,  therefore,  that  indeterminate  points 
should  be  determined  and  that  we  should  aim  at  raising  the 
ethical  standard,  I  do  not  think  we  have  yet  reached  the  point 


228  IS   IT   AN   IMPOSSIBILITY  ? 

at  \vhich  codification  is  practicable,  or  if  practicable  would  be 
a  public  good."  * 

But  Mr.  Field,  with  American  audacity,  saw  no 
such  impassable  barriers  in  the  way.  He  had  read  the 
prophecy  of  the  last  days,  that  the  valleys  should  be 
exalted  and  the  hills  made  low  to  prepare  an  highway 
for  the  coming  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  every  strong- 
armed  toiler  could  help  to  clear  obstructions  out  of  the 
way.  As  to  the  impossibility  of  framing  a  '  Code, '  he 
had  said  long  before  : 

"There  is  no  more  difficulty  in  framing  a  Code  of  Interna 
tional  Law  than  of  national,  or  (as  it  is  sometimes,  though 
inaccurately,  called,)  municipal  law.  The  established  rules  of 
International  Law  have  already  a  written  record  ;  they  are  con 
tained  in  the  treaties  entered  into  between  nations,  in  acts  of 
legislation,  in  the  decision  of  courts  of  law,  and  in  treatises  of 
publicists.  All  that  is  thus  contained  can  be  gathered  from  its 
various  repositories,  condensed,  analyzed,  and  arranged,  and 
stated  in  distinct  propositions." 


*  Lord  Russell  adds  in  the  very  next  paragraph,  "  Among  the 
most  successful  experiments  in  codification  in  English  commu 
nities  have  been  those  in  Anglo-India,  particularly  the  Penal 
Code,  and  the  Codes  of  Civil  and  Criminal  Procedure."  He  was 
probably  not  aware  that  this  was,  in  part  at  least,  a  contribution 
from  Mr.  Field,  who,  in  his  journey  round  the  world,  spent  a 
few  days  at  Singapore,  and  inquiring  of  the  Attorney-General, 
who  called  to  see  him,  what  was  the  Code  of  the  Straits  Settle 
ments,  was  answered,  "The  Code  of  New  York"  !  and  indeed, 
turning  to  the  printed  page,  he  read  the  very  words  that  he  had 
written  in  his  library  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe. 


OUTLINES   OF  A   CODE.  229 

Between  two  such  authorities,  it  would  be  presum 
ing  to  give  an  opinion,  but  for  Mr.  Field  it  must  be 
said  that  he  claimed  nothing  more  than  to  be  a  pio 
neer  of  reform,  leading  the  way  where  others  would 
follow.  Though  for  convenience  he  used  the  word 
"Code"  *  as  part  of  a  title,  he  took  good  care  to  define  ' 
the  limits  of  what  he  undertook.  In  the  preface  he  says  : 
* '  This  work  should  be  taken  for  what  its  name  imports  : 
Draft  Outlines  of  an  International  Code.  It  is  not  put 
forth  as  a  completed  Code,  nor  yet  as  the  completed 
Outlines  of  a  Code,  but  as  a  Draft  of  the  Outlines." 
Surely  it  would  not  be  possible  to  take  a  more  unpreten 
tious  title.  It  was  an  experiment  rather  than  a  finality. 
He  said  :  "  It  is  intended  for  suggestion,  and  is  to 
undergo  careful  and  thorough  revision."  He  was 
content  to  labor,  and  that  other  men  should  enter 
into  his  labors.  In  the  second  edition  he  makes  full 
acknowledgment  of  what  he  has  received  from  others  : 
' '  I  have  had  the  advantage  of  many  suggestions,  and 
have  given  the  work  a  careful  revision. "  Nor  was  he 
disturbed  if  others  should  claim  all  the  honor,  quite 
willing  to  leave  it  to  those  who  should  come  after  him 
to  do  him  justice. 

*  Even  the  word  '  'Law"  itself  has  to  be  used  in  a  peculiar  sense, 
for  strictly  speaking  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  law  which 
does  not  emanate  from  a  lawgiver,  who  has  the  authority  to 
make  the  law,  and  power  to  enforce  it,  both  of  which  are  want 
ing  in  the  case  of  International  Law. 


230  EXISTING   STATE   OF   THE   LAW. 

The  first  step  was  a  study  of  the  existing  state  of 
International  Law  as  laid  down  by  writers  of  authority 
on  the  multitudinous  subjects  which  it  embraces,  and 
as  recognized  in  treaties  between  different  countries. 
The  treaties  made  by  Great  Britain,  if  not  a  law  to 
the  world,  were  a  law  to  herself,  so  far  as  concerned 
the  countries  with  which  they  were  made.  If  other 
countries  were  to  adopt  the  same  rules,  there  might 
grow  up  a  general  consensus  of  opinion  and  practice, 
which  would  have  the  force,  if  not  the  form,  of  an 
enactment  of  law.  Another  authority  was  found  in 
the  diplomatic  correspondence  between  different  gov 
ernments  ;  and  another  still  in  the  judicial  decisions 
of  the  higher  courts  in  cases  involving  contested 
points.  These  investigations,  spread  over  a  field  so 
vast,  were  reduced  to  a  general  result  by  drafting 
into  separate  articles  what  were  accepted  as  rules 
of  law,  with  comments  and  arguments  in  their  sup 
port.  The  burden  of  this  original  examination  and 
analysis  of  authorities,  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
the  work,  was  borne  by  Mr.  Austin  Abbott  and  his 
partner,  Mr.  Howard  Payson  Wilds,  and,  on  certain 
special  subjects,  by  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Stone,  all 
members  of  the  New  York  bar.  Mr.  Wilds  was  en 
gaged  in  these  researches  for  nearly  five  years.* 

*  President  Barnard,  of  Columbia  College,  prepared  the  titles 
on  "  Money,"  "  Weights  and  Measures,"  "  Longitude  and  Time," 
and  "Sea  Signals." 


THE   WORK   OF   MANY    YEARS.  231 

With  such  experts  ransacking  libraries  and  explor 
ing  every  source  of  information,  there  was  accumulated 
a  mass  of  material  that  would  have  dismayed  a  man  of 
less  courage  than  Mr.  Field.  But  with  his  tempera 
ment,  the  greatness  of  the  undertaking  only  stimulated 
his  indomitable  energy,  and  all  the  hours  that  he  could 
snatch  from  his  professional  engagements — his  morn 
ings  and  his  midnights — were  given  to  the  work  of 
International  Law. 

And  what  came  out  of  all  these  busy  years  ?  A  brand 
new  Code,  evolved  out  of  his  own  brain  ?  Not  at  all  ! 
It  was  the  same  old  law  with  modern  improvements. 
Was  the  law  the  only  branch  of  human  knowledge  in 
which  there  was  no  such  thing  as  progress  ?  The 
world  was  changing  and  the  law  must  change  with  it. 
If  this  was  taking  liberties  with  the  past,  it  was  a  lib 
erty  that  must  be  taken  by  any  generation  with  the 
work  of  its  predecessors. 

But  modest  as  were  its  pretensions,  the  ' '  Outlines 
of  a  Code "  grew  and  grew  into  a  volume  that  quite 
appalls  the  ordinary  reader.  If  I  do  not  attempt  a 
critical  analysis  of  such  a  work,  it  is  because  that  is  too 
high  for  me  ;  it  belongs  to  one  whose  life  has  been 
given  to  legal  studies,  who  only  can  appreciate  the  vast 
range  of  subjects  (the  table  of  contents  alone  covers 
forty  pages  ! ) ,  and  is  competent  to  analyze  each  separate 
part,  so  as  to  judge  how  far  it  is  a  real  contribution  to 
International  Law. 


232  WAR    SOMETIMES    INEVITABLE. 

Without  attempting  anything  so  ambitious,  it  may 
be  permitted  to  one  who  is  not  a  lawyer  to  dwell  briefly 
on  the  last  third  of  the  book,  which  is  given  up  to  "War, 
in  which  it  is  apparent  that  the  author  has  put  into  it, 
not  only  his  legal  knowledge,  but  his  whole  heart, 
hoping  that  long  after  he  had  passed  away  it  might 
remain  as  a  plea  for  peace  and  good  will  among  men. 
To  begin  with,  he  did  not  deny  that  a  war  might 
be  sometimes  inevitable — coming  like  a  convulsion  of 
nature,  a  storm  or  an  earthquake,  which  man  was  pow 
erless  to  resist.  Nor  would  he  deny  that  wars  had  some 
times  subserved  the  cause  of  liberty  and  of  civilization. 
The  gallant  fleets  of  England  destroyed  the  Spanish 
Armada.  By  a  seven  years'  war  our  country  won  her 
independence.  By  a  civil  war  of  four  years  slavery  was 
destroyed.  By  war  Italy  was  made  united  and  free. 
No  appeal  to  justice  could  have  persuaded  Austria  to 
give  up  Lombardy  and  Venice :  they  had  to  be  wrenched 
from  her  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  tyrant  Bomba 
ruled  Naples  and  Sicily  till  he  was  driven  out  by  the 

I  invasion   of   Garibaldi.     In.   such   cases   war   was    the 
only  relief   from  a  situation   that   was  too  terrible  to 

>  be  borne. 

But  for  the  most  part  wars  were  precipitated  by  pride, 
hatred  or  ambition.  For  such  a  war  Mr.  Field  had  a 
double  abhorrence :  not  only  because  it  was  wicked,  but 
because  it  was  insane,  in  that  it  did  not  settle  anything 
but  the  question  of  brute  force  !  It  did  not  prove  that 


HOW  TO  STOP  A  WAR  BEFORE  IT  IS  BEGUN.       233 

the  victorious  power  was  right ;  that  its  cause  was 
just ;  and  that  the  conquered  state,  which  shrank  back 
defeated  and  almost  destroyed,  was  a  sinner  above  other 
nations,  or  indeed  above  its  victorious  enemy.  Nor  did 
it  even  settle  the  question  of  peace.  On  the  contrary, 
one  war  sowed  the  seed  of  other  wars,  that  might  be 
continued  from  generation  to  generation,  till  one  power 
or  the  other  was  destroyed  ;  or  if  permitted  to  exist, 
it  was  only  as  a  subject  or  a  slave  ! 

Looking  then  at  the  question  from  before  and  after, 
Mr.  Field  reasoned  that  the  proper  moment  to  stop  a 
war  was  before  it  was  begun  ;  before  any  rash  act  had 
put  either  power  where  it  could  not  retreat  with  honor, 
or  at  least  without  a  sacrifice  of  national  pride.  There 
fore  he  reasoned  that  in  case  of  differences  between 
two  countries,  the  mode  of  procedure  should  be  settled 
beforehand,  so  that  neither  should  be  thrown  off  its 
balance  by  some  sudden  irritation,  but  could  look  at  any 
question  in  the  clear  light  and  tranquil  atmosphere  of 
peace  and  friendship.  To  this  end  he  suggested  three 
simple  provisions,  which,  if  followed,  would  make  war 
almost  impossible  : 

'  *  First  :  that  there  should  be  a  simultaneous  reduc 
tion  of  the  enormous  armaments  which  now  weigh 
upon  Europe  !  "  That  alone  would  save  millions  of 
dollars  a  day,  and  thus  lift  a  burden  that  presses  sorely 
upon  every  power  on  the  continent ;  while  the  mere 
pause  would  cool  the  hot  blood  of  the  belligerents. 


234  A   PEACEFUL  WAY   OF   REDRESS. 

4 '  Second  :  that  if  any  disagreement  or  cause  of 
complaint  should  arise  between  nations,  the  one 
aggrieved  should  give  formal  notice  to  the  other,  speci 
fying  in  detail  the  causes  of  complaint  and  the  redress 
sought,  and  that  this  complaint  should  be  formally 
i  answered  within  a  certain  period."  This  would  prevent 
;  hasty  action,  and  give  time  for  both  parties  to  think  it 
over,  and  to  ask  themselves  if  there  were  really  anything 
,  in  dispute  that  was  worth  fighting  about.  If  such  a 
i  course  had  been  pursued  by  France  and  Germany  before 
the  fatal  declaration  of  July,  1870,  we  should  probably 
have  been  spared  the  last  Franco- German  war ;  although 
it  must  in  truth  be  said  that  the  French  were  so  mad 
for  war,  to  show  that  France,  and  not  Germany,  was 
the  great  military  power  of  the  continent,  that  it  is 
Doubtful  whether  anything  could  take  the  conceit  out 
of  them  but  a  few  tremendous  defeats.  Then,  indeed, 
they  began  to  open  their  eyes,  and  would  have  gladly 
tetreated.  But  it  was  too  late,  and  they  had  to  drink 
the  cup  of  humiliation  to  the  very  dregs.  We  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  have  taken  care  to  avoid  any  possi 
bility  of  misunderstanding  with  our  neighbors  by  insert 
ing  a  provision  in  our  treaties  with  Bolivia,  Guatemala, 
Peru,  San  Salvador  and  New  Granada,  that  a  blow 
should  never  be  struck  without  full  notice  of  any  griev 
ance  that  might  be  peaceably  composed. 

' '  Third   and   last  :    If    the   parties   did   not   agree, 
they  were   to   appoint    a   Joint    High    Commission " ; 


THE   ALABAMA  ARBITRATION.  235 

[representing  the  two  countries]  ' '  and  if  that  failed,  a 
Tribunal  of  Arbitration "  [made  up  of  representatives 
from  other  nations  friendly  to  both] . 

Could  there  be  anything  more  simple  than  this  ? 
Would  it  involve  any  sacrifice  of  dignity  on  the  side  of 
either  party  ?  Was  there  any  humiliation  in  arguing 
a  question  in  a  tone  and  temper  of  mutual  respect,  as 
if  each  had  the  fullest  confidence  in  the  sincerity  and 
fairness  of  the  other  ?  Such  frankness  would  be  a  les 
son  in  national  manhood. 

We  need  not  theorize  about  it  when  we  have  a  case 
in  point,  that  is  the  best  of  all  arguments.  At  the  close 
of  our  civil  war  there  was  a  very  bitter  feeling  against 
England,  from  whose  ports  had  gone  out  the  ships  that 
had  preyed  upon  our  commerce  till  they  had  nearly 
driven  it  from  the  ocean.  The  case  lingered  for  six 
years  till  Mr.  Gladstone,  seeing  that  the  fires  were  still 
smouldering,  with  a  frankness  that  did  him  infinite 
honor,  made  advances  towards  having  the  question 
settled  forever ;  and,  as  if  to  show  that  England  was 
ready  to  meet  us  more  than  half  way,  instead  of  invit 
ing  the  American  representatives  to  come  to  London, 
he  sent  the  English  representatives  to  Washington,  to 
deliberate  with  us  under  the  shadow  of  the  Capitol,  where 
both  sides  went  to  work  with  such  earnest  purpose, 
that  in  a  few  weeks  they  had  agreed  to  submit  the  whole 
question  to  a  Tribunal  of  Arbitration,  to  be  composed 
of  five  members  ;  one  to  be  designated  by  the  Queen, 


236  PEACE   WITH   HONOR. 

and  another  by  the  President ;  with  a  request  to  the 
King  of  Italy,  the  President  of  the  Swiss  Confederation, 
and  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  each  to  name  an  arbitrator, 
and  in  case  of  the  failure  of  either  to  act,  the  request 
was  to  be  transferred  to  the  King  of  Sweden  and  Norway . 

When  the  treaty  was  duly  signed  and  sealed,  the 
English  representatives  came  on  to  New  York  to  embark 
for  home,  and  the  night  before  they  sailed,  they  were 
entertained  by  Mr.  Cyrus  Field  at  Delmonico's,  where 
they  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting  several  hundreds 
of  our  most  eminent  citizens.  The  feeling  on  both  sides 
was  one  of  unbounded  relief  and  satisfaction.  I  can 
hear  now  the  ringing  voice  of  the  Marquis  of  Ripon 
saying  proudly,  ' '  The  treaty  between  the  two  countries 
is  an  honest  treaty,  of  which  neither  has  reason  to  be 
ashamed  !  "  Ashamed  indeed  ?  There  is  nothing  in  all 
our  history  of  which  we  have  more  reason  to  be  proud. 

A  few  months  later  the  Tribunal  met  in  Geneva, 
and  after  listening  to  the  arguments  of  great  advo 
cates  on  both  sides,  gave  their  decision  that  England 
should  pay  an  indemnity  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  ! 
Was  it  a  humiliation  of  England  that  the  case  went 
against  her?  Then  was  it  a  humiliation  for  us  that 
another  arbitration  a  year  or  two  later  about  the  fisheries 
on  the  coast  of  Newfoundland  went  against  us  !  The 
only  difference  was  that  we  had  to  pay  but  five  millions, 
while  England  had  to  pay  fifteen  !  Does  that  seem  a 
great  deal  of  money  ?  Both  together  would  not  have 


CASES   THAT   CANNOT   BE  ARBITRATED.  237 

paid  the  cost  of  war  for  a  week  !  But  really  the  ques 
tion  of  money  is  too  paltry  to  be  so  much  as  named 
when  two  governments  have  to  decide  the  policy  of  two 
great  countries  that  profess  to  be  civilized  and  Christian. 
In  closing  the  address  with  which  he  presented  the 
International  Code,  Mr.  Field  took  good  care  to  guard 
himself  from  misrepresentation  : 

"  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  every  claim  which  one  nation 
may  make  upon  another  should  be  submitted  to  arbitration. 
There  may  be  claims  which  no  self-respecting  nation  would  sub 
mit  to  any  arbiter,  such  as  those  which  touch  its  equality  or 
independence.  To  put  an  extreme  case  :  suppose  Spain  were  to 
claim  the  sovereignty  of  Holland,  pretending  that  it  had  not 
been  lost  by  Philip  II,  or  by  any  of  his  successors,  I  would  not 
have  Holland  submit  such  a  claim  to  the  decision  of  any  arbiter 
or  of  any  human  power.  It  is  not  difficult  to  draw  the  line 
between  questions  which  can,  and  those  which  cannot,  be  sub 
mitted  to  arbitration." 

But  if  war  is  inevitable,  or  has  already  come,  then 
how  shall  it  be  conducted  ?  There  is  such  a  thing  as 
civilized  war.  War  does  not  destroy  all  rights  on 
either  side,  for  even  enemies  have  rights.  First  of  all, 
war  cannot  be  waged  upon  women  and  children,  or 
peaceable  citizens  going  about  their  lawful  occupations. 
If  a  city  is  to  be  attacked,  notice  should  be  given  to 
non-combatants,  that  they  may  get  out  of  the  way. 
To  bombard  a  city  with  a  hundred  thousand  inhabit 
ants  in  their  houses,  or  going  about  the  streets,  would 


238  CIVILIZED   WARFARE. 

be  an  act  of  barbarism,  as  atrocious  as  to  set  it  on 
fire.  The  people  of  Moscow  indeed  put  the  torch  to 
their  own  city  as  a  means  of  self-defence.  But  if  Napo 
leon  had  set  fire  to  it,  his  name  would  live  in  history 
as  that  of  another  Attila,  the  scourge  of  God  ! 

The  first  principle  of  civilized  warfare  is  that  it  shall 
be  waged  only  between  armed  forces  on  land  or  sea. 
This  is  imperative  if  we  are  to  preserve  the  character 
of  civilized  nations,  and  not  wage  war  as  savages  and 
barbarians.  Against  this  savagery  the  proposed  revis 
ion  of  International  Law  sets  up  every  barrier  of  civil 
ization.  If  nations  are  seized  with  such  madness  that 
they  must  have  it  out  on  the  field  of  battle,  let  them 
fight  like  men,  and  not  like  demons,  whose  only  thought 
is  that  of  destruction,  of  the  innocent  as  well  as  the 
guilty,  of  the  helpless  as  well  as  the  strong.  There  is 
at  least  a  certain  decency  to  be  observed  in  the  way 
that  nations  begin  and  conduct  a  war.  Here  are  a  few 
of  the  barriers  that  must  not  be  broken  down.  There 
shall  be  no  wanton  destruction  of  private  property. 
Armies  may  fight  with  swords  and  guns  and  cannons, 
but  not  with  poisoned  weapons,  nor  explosive  bullets 
that  not  only  kill,  but  tear  the  body  in  pieces.  And 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  and  other  good  angels  that  hover 
over  the  battlefield  or  watch  in  the  hospitals  to  relieve 
the  agony  of  the  wounded  and  the  dying,  shall  be 
sacred  from  all  rude  hands.  Nor  shall  any  fierce 
invader  bombard  towns  and  cities  that  have  no  defence. 


WAR   NOT    THE    GREATEST    OF   EVILS.  239 

All  these  ways  of  making  war  are  relics  of  an  age  of 
barbarism.  Then  follow  chapters  with  such  sugges 
tive  titles  as  these  : 

"  Of  those  who  may  wage  hostilities ;  against  ivhom  hostilities 
may  be  waged ;  the  instruments  and  modes  of  hostilities ;  truce 
and  armistice  ;  medical  and  religious  service ;  prisoners  ;  hostil 
ities  against  property ;  contraband  of  ivar ;  visitation,  search, 
and  capture ;  blockade ;  prize ;  and  the  effect  of  war  upon  the 
obligations  of  nations  and  their  members,  upon  intercourse  and 
the  administration  of  justice.  In  respect  of  neutrals,  the  abso 
lute  right  of  a  nation  to  remain  neutral  while  others  are  at  war 
is  asserted  in  the  strongest  terms. " 

Here  is  an  array  of  topics,  each  of  which  is  enough 
for  a  treatise  or  a  volume.  But  the  end  to  be  secured 
was  worthy  of  all  the  labor  of  the  greatest  and  the  best 
of  all  countries,  for  it  is  a  combined  effort  to  put  an  end 
forever  to  one  of  the  greatest  calamities  that  can  afflict 
mankind. 

"  I  do  not  say,"  said  Mr.  Field,  "that  war  is  the  greatest 
of  all  calamities,  for  I  think  that  national  degradation  and 
slavery,  or  general  corruption  and  the  reign  of  fraud,  are 
evils  still  greater.  An  oppressed  people  may  and  must  rise 
against  its  oppressors.  A  nation  attacked  may  and  must  defend 
itself.  He  who  would  not  fight  to  the  death  in  defense  of  his 
family  or  his  country  is  not  fit  for  this  world.  But,  in  propor 
tion  as  the  defense  is  just,  the  attack  is  unjust.  There  would 
be  no  occasion  for  the  rising  of  an  oppressed  people  if  there  were 
no  oppression,  and  no  need  of  defensive  war  if  there  were  not 
first  an  aggressive  war.  And,  of  course,  in  proportion  as  you 
diminish  the  aggression  you  diminish  the  defense.  In  other 


240  THE   HEROES    OF   PEACE. 

words,  if  there  were  no  aggressive  and  unjust  war,  there  would 
be  no  war  of  defense — that  is  to  say,  no  war  at  all. 

"Nor  would  I  detract  in  the  least  from  the  merits  of  those  great 
captains  who,  fighting  for  the  rights  of  their  countrymen,  have 
earned  renown ;  nor  would  I  dispute  that  there  is  in  war  frequent 
occasion  for,  as  there  has  often  been  a  display  of,  high  heroic  vir 
tues.  But  the  great  men  who  displayed  these  virtues  have  them 
selves  deplored  the  occasion  and  the  evils  of  the  war  which  they 
had  been  obliged  to  wage.  Our  own  Washington  was  not  only  first 
in  war  but  first  in  peace,  as  he  was  first  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen  ;  and  it  was  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  if  I  remember 
right,  who  said  that  there  was  nothing  worse  than  a  battle 
gained  except  a  battle  lost. 

"  I  would  not,  indeed,  discourage  the  cultivation  of  the  heroic 
virtues  or  take  away  the  opportunities  of  their  exercise  ;  but, 
assuredly,  war  is  not  the  only  school  where  they  can  be  culti 
vated  or  exhibited.  There  will  always  be  suffering  enough  in 
the  \vorld  for  the  exercise  of  all  the  virtues.  Does  not  the  ship 
master  who  puts  his  ship  about  in  a  stormy  sea  at  the  signal  of 
a  shipwrecked  brother,  and  stays  by  him  through  the  dark  and 
perilous  night  till  the  daylight  comes,  that  he  may  save  him 
at  the  risk  of  his  own  life,  exhibit  as  much  heroism,  as  any  of 
those  who  fought  at  Waterloo  ?  Did  not  the  captain  of  the 
Northfleet,  who  the  other  day  calmly  accepted  death  that  he 
might  save  women  and  children,  exhibit  as  much  heroic  virtue 
as  any  of  the  brave  six  hundred  who  charged  at  Balaklava  ? 
Was  Howard  less  a  hero  than  Marlborough  ?  Would  you  not  as 
soon  deserve  the  eulogy  which  Burke  pronounced  upon  the  for 
mer,  as  the  poem  with  which  Addison  celebrated  the  victory  of 
the  latter  ?  Let  him  who  \vould  win  renown  through  labor, 
endurance,  and  self-sacrifice,  go  abroad  into  the  world  and  make 
war  upon  the  wrong  with  which  it  is  filled." 


SIGNS   OF   THE   GOOD   TIME   COMING.  241 

With  such  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  our  race,  the 
"good  time"  for  which  we  have  been  waiting  through 
all  the  centuries  would  soon  come.  Indeed  in  the  vis 
ion  of  the  speaker,  it  was  coming  now,  and  with  this 
glimpse  of  the  dawn  he  brought  his  words  to  a  close  : 

' '  I  am  not  sanguine  enough  to  suppose  that  war  is  in  our  time 
to  be  put  an  end  to  altogether,  but  I  do  suppose  that  increased 
intercourse  and  the  general  progress  of  civilization  have  more 
and  more  inclined  men  to  the  ways  of  peace.  The  armor  that 
now  hangs  useless  in  our  baronial  halls  ;  the  battlements  that 
now  serve  for  ornament  in  place  of  defense  ;  the  walls  of  cities 
once  formidable  but  now  converted  into  promenades  ;  are  so 
many  witnesses  of  successive  steps  in  the  progress  from  contin 
ual  war  to  frequent  and  long-enduring  peace.  I  do  suppose, 
further,  that,  by  judicious  international  arrangements,  the 
chances  of  war  occurring  may  be  lessened,  and  that  when, 
unfortunately,  it  does  occur,  its  evils  may  be  mitigated.  Such 
has  been  the  object  of  the  imperfect  work  which  I  now 
place,  with  all  its  defects,  in  the  library  of  this  Association, 
the  closing  act  of  a  task  undertaken  seven  years  ago,  and 
now  fulfilled. " 

With  this  Mr.  Field  laid  down  the  burden  that  he  had 
taken  upon  him  seven  years  before.  It  was  a  work  in 
which  it  was  impossible  to  make  rapid  progress.  He 
had  to  advance  slowly,  revising  and  re-revising  every 
page  and  line — only  to  feel  at  last  that  it  was  still  very 
"imperfect,"  and  to  submit  it  "with  all  its  defects  !" 
From  this  self-depreciation  we  may  appeal  to  the  judg 
ment  of  eminent  jurists  in  Europe,  and  to  the  fact  that 


242        ONLY   OUTLINES   OF   WHAT   IS   YET   TO   BE. 

it  has  been  translated  into  French  and  Italian.  Yet  to 
a  work  on  which  he  spent  years  of  labor,  he  gave  only 
the  title  of  "Outlines,"  as  if  it  were  but  the  dim  fore 
shadowing  of  what  he  would  have  it  to  be.  Such 
indeed  it  was.  This  was  not  an  affectation  of  modesty, 
but  an  expression  of  his  sense  of  how  little  he,  or  any 
one  man,  could  do.  He  would  have  been  the  last  to 
ask  others  to  be  satisfied  with  what  did  not  satisfy  him 
self,  for  he  looked  upon  International  Law  as  a  progres 
sive  science,  which  must  advance  with  the  progress  of 
mankind.  The  utmost  he  hoped  to  do  was  to  make  his 
contribution  to  the  "common  weal"  of  the  world. 
Those  who  came  after  him  would  have  far  greater 
opportunities,  as  they  would  have  the  wisdom  of  all  the 
ages.  He  was  but  one  of  the  pioneers  that  went  before 
the  grand  army  of  progress  to  point  the  way.  To  the 
future  it  belongs  to  fill  up  the  4 '  Outlines  "  that  have  here 
been  sketched  on  a  broad  canvas  by  a  master's  hand. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  LONG  VACATION  :  GOING  ROUND  THE  WORLD. 

In  the  army  of  the  United  States  officers  of  high 
rank  are  retired  at  the  age  of  sixty-four  !  Their  days 
of  battle  are  over  ;  their  names  are  placed  on  the  roll 
of  honor,  and  they  can  take  their  seats,  like  Roman 
emperors,  in  the  Coliseum,  and  look  down  serenely 
upon  those  who  are  still  engaged  in  the  combats  of  the 
arena.  But  in  the  professions  there  is  no  limit  of  age. 
There  may  be  veterans,  but  there  are  no  pensioners, 
who  are  provided  for  by  a  grateful  country.  Nor 
would  a  man  like  Mr.  Field  accept  any  price,  or  any 
honor,  that  retired  him  to  the  rear,  which  he  would 
have  looked  upon  as  a  gilded  exile  from  the  stormy 
activities  of  life.  To  live  he  must  keep  in  the  ranks  of 
war.  That  inaction  would  have  cut  short  his  days 
seems  probable,  when  we  recall  the  fact  that,  after  he 
passed  the  age  of  military  retirement,  he  not  only  sur 
vived,  but  was  an  actor  in  the  stirring  events  of  his 
time,  for  another  quarter  of  a  century  ! 

But  he  must  have  now  and  then  a  change  of  scene, 
which  he  found  by  frequent  visits  to  England  and  the 
Continent,  where  he  had  so  many  friends  that  he  was 


244  ATTRACTION   TO   THE   ANTIPODES. 

as  much  at  home  as  in  his  own  country.  He  had  also 
travelled  in  the  East.  But  now  there  was  an  attrac 
tion  which  drew  him  farther  still.  He  was  nearing  the 
line  of  seventy  when  he  set  out  on  the  longest  journey 
of  his  life — to  go  round  the  world  ;  and  not  by  the 
shortest  line,  straight  east  along  a  Northern  latitude, 
but  by  the  longest,  that  crossed  the  Equator,  and 
reached  far  down  into  the  Southern  Hemisphere.  The 
distance  was  great,  but  the  attraction  was  greater,  for 
there  at  the  Antipodes  was  the  idol  of  his  heart,  his 
only  daughter,  who  was  predestined  to  a  life  in  ' '  lands 
remote"  when  she  became  the  wife  of  a  Governor  of  a 
British  Colony.  Sir  Anthony  Musgrave  was  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Newfoundland  at  the  time  of  the  laying  of  the 
Atlantic  Telegraph  in  1866,  and  gave  a  hearty  English 
welcome  to  Mr.  Cyrus  Field.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  an  acquaintance,  not  only  with  his  family,  but  with 
that  of  his  brother  Dudley,  whose  only  daughter  he 
married  in  1870,  when  Sir  Anthony  was  Governor  of 
British  Columbia.  From  this  distant  post  he  was  sent 
half  way  round  the  world  to  Africa,  to  be  Governor  of 
Natal ;  and  next  was  promoted  to  the  Governorship  of 
South  Australia,  where  Mr.  Field  set  out  to  seek  his 
child,  literally  at  the  world's  end. 

But  he  could  not  go  anywhere,  to  any  part  of  the 
habitable  globe,  without  keeping  in  mind  the  great  mis 
sion  of  his  life,  the  Reform  of  the  Law.  He  had  fin 
ished  his  New  York  Codes,  and  they  were  fighting  their 


JUST   LAWS   BETTER   THAN   PEACE    SOCIETIES.     245 

way  across  the  Continent.  "When  he  went  abroad,  he 
found  a  similar  movement  in  other  countries,  which,  if 
not  inspired  from  America  was  along  the  same  lines, 
and  working  to  the  same  end,  so  that  their  reformers 
and  ours  could  exchange  ideas  in  the  most  friendly 
way,  as  fellow- workers  in  the  same  good  cause.  We 
could  reach  out  our  hands  across  the  sea,  not  only  to 
the  great  nation  from  which  we  are  sprung,  but  to  all 
the  races  to  which  we  were  more  distantly  allied. 
Mr.  Field's  ideas  always  had  a  logical  relation  one  to 
another  ;  and  in  his  mind  the  natural  order  of  progress 
was  that  justice  should  go  before,  and  liberty  would 
follow  after  ;  and  that  ' '  the  fruit  of  righteousness 
would  be  peace,"  not  only  in  the  spiritual  life,  but  in 
all  the  relations  that  are  formed  among  men. 

This  would  be  better  than  all  the  Peace  Societies, 
which  had  attempted  much,  but  accomplished  little. 
There  was  a  Peace  Society  in  this  country,  which  held  an 
anniversary  once  a  year  in  Tremont  Temple,  in  Boston  ; 
as  another  society  met  in  Exeter  Hall,  in  London  ;  at 
which  good  men  and  good  women  deplored  the  great 
armies  and  great  battles,  and  prayed  for  universal  peace. 
But  so  far  as  stopping  war,  they  did  not  so  much 
as  stir  a  ripple  on  the  mighty  waters  of  public  opinion 
in  Europe  or  in  America.  This  was  brought  home  to 
us  very  clearly  one  evening  in  May,  1873,  when  Mr. 
Field  invited  a  few  friends  to  his  house  in  Gramercy 
Park,  to  hear  the  report  of  Dr.  James  B.  Miles,  who 


246  HOW   TO   PROMOTE  PEACE. 

had  been  abroad  as  the  agent  of  the  American  Peace 
Society.  It  was  the  same  old  story.  Everybody  in 
England  was  in  theory  as  much  for  peace  as  John 
Bright,  and  yet  that  did  not  prevent  constant  warlike 
preparations.  Was  there  not  a  better  way  to  culti 
vate  the  amenities  out  of  which  grow  friendly  relations 
by  looking  into  kindly  faces,  and  listening  to  kindly 
voices  ?  This  was  a  large  question  to  be  discussed 
before  a  small  company  in  a  private  parlor.  But  tall 
oaks  from  little  acorns  grow,  and  that  very  evening 
these  gentlemen  resolved  themselves  into  a  modest 
* '  Committee  " — out  of  which  grew  a  body  more  impos 
ing  in  name,  as  well  as  in  numbers  and  in  power,  as  it 
brought  together  a  few  months  later  at  Brussels  some 
of  the  most  distinguished  publicists  of  England  and  the 
Continent,  to  form  '  'An  Association  for  the  Reform  and 
Codification  of  the  Law  of  Nations,"  of  which  Mr.  Field 
was  chosen  the  first  President. 

The  movement  was  a  success  from  the  very  begin 
ning.  The  peculiar  charm  of  the  new  organization  was 
its  unpretentiousness,  its  simplicity  and  its  absolute  free 
dom.  It  claimed  no  authority.  It  was  in  no  sense  a 
political  body,  composed  of  delegates  from  different 
countries,  to  advocate  some  policy  that  might  be  more 
favorable  to  one  than  another.  It  was  more  like  the 
scientific  associations  that  meet  from  year  to  year,  now 
in  London  or  Edinburgh,  and  now  in  Paris  or  Vienna, 
to  record  new  discoveries  in  science,  and  lead  the  way  to 


A   FREE    CONFERENCE.  247 

still  greater  achievements.  Nor  was  it  limited  to  jurists, 
but  included  statesmen  and  political  economists,  with 
perhaps  here  and  there  a  dreamy  philosopher,  who  had 
in  his  brain  some  social  reorganization,  that  would  be  a 
cure  for  all  the  ills  of  the  human  race.  But  this  only 
enlivened  the  discussions,  as  it  showed  the  wide  range 
of  opinion  that  was  allowed,  and  the  contact,  or  even 
collision,  of  such  theorists  with  men  who  were  nothing 
if  not  "practical,"  might  enlarge  the  ideas  of  both. 
Naturally  an  intercourse  so  free  and  unrestrained  led  to 
the  formation  of  many  friendships,  as  all  national  prej 
udices  dissolved  in  the  warm  atmosphere  of  a  generous 
enthusiasm  for  a  great  cause,  that  of  universal  justice 
and  peace. 

At  the  close  of  this  first  meeting  Mr.  Field  gave 
a  dinner  to  the  members,  at  which  the  burgomaster 
of  Brussels  and  the  English  Consul  at  Antwerp  were 
guests.  As  might  be  supposed,  the  occasion  was  one 
of  mutual  congratulation  between  the  representatives 
of  different  countries,  who  felt  that  it  was  indeed  one 
step  forward  in  the  progress  of  the  world. 

This  was  sowing  the  seed  that  was  to  bear  fruit  in 
many  directions.  The  report  of  that  first  Conference  in 
Brussels  (which  was  in  its  purpose  and  spirit,  if  not  in 
name,  a  Peace  Congress,)  attracted  immediate  attention 
beyond  the  border  of  Belgium,  so  that  when  Mr.  Field 
arrived  in  Paris,  he  was  feted  by  the  French  as  well  as 
by  Americans.  In  passing  through  Turin,  he  paid  a 


248  FROM  EGYPT   TO   THE   FAR   EAST. 

visit  to  Count  Sclopis,  who  had  been  President  of  the 
International  Tribunal  at  Geneva,  (when  they  celebrated 
the  event  that  was  uppermost  in  both  their  minds  in  a 
cup  of  tea,  that  was  served  for  the  first  time  from  the 
silver  service  presented  to  him  by  the  United  States 
Government  ; )  and  in  Rome  he  formed  a  very  warm 
friendship  with  the  Prime  Minister,  Signor  Mancini, 
and  other  Italian  statesmen. 

But  now  he  was  to  leave  Europe  behind,  and  the 
long  journey  began  when  he  embarked  with  his  wife 
from  Brindisi  for  Alexandria.  He  had  been  in  Egypt 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  before,  in  1850,  but  had 
only  gone  as  far  as  Cairo,  to  get  a  sight  of  the  Pyra 
mids  ;  but  now  he  went  up  the  Nile  in  a  steamer  to 
the  First  Cataract,  nearly  six  hundred  miles. 

But  it  was  not  till  they  returned  to  Cairo,  and 
crossed  to  Suez  and  took  the  steamer  for  Bombay,  that 
they  felt  that  they  were  indeed  bound  to  the  Far  East. 
The  voyage  down  the  Red  Sea,  with  Asia  on  one  side 
and  Africa  on  the  other,  is  full  of  historic  interest. 
Walking  on  the  deck,  when  the  sun  is  setting  over  the 
Dark  Continent,  one  can  see  on  the  other  side  his  last 
rays  fall  on  the  cliffs  of  Mount  Sinai.  Had  my  brother 
been  landed  on  that  barren  Arabian  coast,  as  I  was  nine 
years  later  (in  1882),  he  too  might  have  been  mounted 
on  his  camel,  measuring  off  the  long  stretches  of  the 
Desert,  "the  great  and  terrible  wilderness,"  on  his  way 
to  the  Holy  Land.  But  he  kept  down  the  Red  Sea, 


INDIA   AND    CEYLON.  249 

and  at  Aden  sailed  out  into  the  Indian  Ocean  ;  and  in 
another  week  came  in  sight  of  the  great  wall  of  moun 
tains  that  are  known  as  the  Ghauts  of  Western  India. 

To  the  traveller  there  is  no  country  in  the  world 
more  fascinating  than  India,  which  Mr.  Field  took  in 
to  the  full,  as  he  went  up  the  country  to  Allahabad, 
where  the  two  sacred  rivers,  the  Jumna  and  the  Ganges, 
mingle  their  waters,  and  millions  of  pilgrims  come  to 
wash  away  their  sins  ;  and  thence  to  Agra,  with  its 
wondrous  Taj,  the  most  exquisite  tomb  in  the  world  in 
architectural  beauty  and  grace  ;  to  Delhi,  the  capital  of 
the  great  Mogul  Empire  ;  to  Cawnpore,  where  the  blood 
of  the  great  massacre  still  cries  from  the  ground  ;  to 
Lucknow,  that  will  always  have  a  place  in  history  for 
its  heroic  defence  in  the  terrible  siege  ;  to  Benares,  the 
holy  city  ;  and  last  of  all  came  down  to  Calcutta,  the 
capital  of  British  India. 

From  Calcutta  they  sailed  for  Ceylon.  While  wait 
ing  at  Point  de  Galle  for  the  steamer  that  was  to  take 
them  to  Australia,  Mr.  Field  went  up  to  Colombo  and 
thence  to  Kandy,  which  is  to  Buddhists  what  Jeru 
salem  is  to  Christians,  or  Mecca  to  Mohammedans  ; 
where  is  a  shrine  which  they  visit  with  the  utmost 
veneration,  as  it  contains  a  sacred  relic  in  a  tooth  of 
Buddha  !  Here  are  the  two  High  Priests  of  that  faith, 
to  whom  he  was  introduced  by  the  English  official, 
who  said,  to  give  him  an  idea  of  their  exalted  dignity, 
4 'This  is  the  Buddhist  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 


250          ON  THE  SOUTHERN  OCEAN. 

this  the  Archbishop  of  York  !  "  He  asked  them  about 
their  doctrine  of  Nirvana,  which  they  said  "was  not 
that  the  souls  of  the  departed  sank  into  annihilation,  but 
found  rest  in  a  place  of  eternal  and  conscious  repose." 
Returning  to  Point  de  Galle,  they  embarked  in  a 
Peninsular  and  Oriental  steamer  and  bore  away  into 
the  vast  Southern  Ocean,  to  which  all  other  oceans  are 
but  seas.  Never  before  had  Mr.  Field  such  an  impres 
sion  of  the  waters  that  girdle  the  earth.  Day  after  day, 
and  week  after  week,  they  sailed  on,  and  saw  nothing 
but  the  heavens  above  and  the  waters  below,  till,  as 
with  the  Ancient  Mariner, 

'*  So  lonely  'twas  that  even  God 
Seemed  not  there  to  be." 

But  there  was  a  fascination  in  this  very  silence  and 
immensity.  The  sea  was  calm,  and  as  he  sat  on  deck 
at  night,  above  him  shone  the  Southern  Cross  and  all 
the  constellations  that  revolve  round  the  Antarctic  pole. 
But  of  land  there  was  not  a  sign,  not  even  an  island 
thrown  up  by  an  earthquake,  like  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe. 
Nor  was  there  a  sign  of  human  life,  not  even  a  sail  on 
the  horizon,  save  once,  when  an  Italian  barque  rose  up 
like  a  phantom  ship,  as  it  came  out  of  the  East  and 
sailed  into  the  West,  "looking,"  said  Mr.  Field,  "as  it 
passed  over  the  water,  like  a  great  white  flying  eagle." 
But  all  voyages  must  have  an  end,  and  after  three 
weeks  they  had  their  first  sight  of  Australia  in  the  port 


WITH    HIS   DAUGHTER   IN   ADELAIDE.  251 

of  New  Albany,  where  they  hailed  their  country's  flag, 
flying  from  the  peak  of  two  American  whalers,  which 
had  gone  thus  far  from  home  in  search  of  a  cargo. 
One  of  the  captains  was  from  New  Bedford,  Massa 
chusetts.  His  wife  had  accompanied  him  in  his  long 
voyage,  and  made  a  little  flower  garden  out  of  a  box 
on  the  deck,  where  were  growing  her  native  flowers 
to  remind  her  of  her  New  England  home. 

Passing  along  to  South  Australia,  they  reached 
Kangaroo  Island,  off  Adelaide,  on  a  bright  moonlight 
night.  Never  was  a  scene  more  striking.  The  ship 
was  moving  on  without  a  sail,  every  rope  of  her  cord 
age  distinctly  traced  on  the  background  of  the  clear 
sky,  the  shore  visible  along  the  island  and  up  the  bay, 
while  the  revolving  lights  told  them  that  they  had  reen- 
tered  the  regions  of  civilized  life. 

The  next  morning  the  Governor's  secretary  came  on 
board  to  greet  them  and  tell  them  the  glad  news  that 
Lady  Musgrave  had  that  morning,  March  10th,  1874, 
borne  another  son,  for  whom  the  bells  were  ringing  out 
a  welcome  as  they  drove  into  Adelaide  from  the  port  of 
Glenelg.  The  little  fellow  for  whom  the  bells  rang,  is 
now  Lieutenant  Arthur  Musgrave  in  the  English  army. 

Although  Mr.  Field  had  been  led  to  undertake  this 
long  voyage  to  the  Antipodes  by  the  yearning  of  his 
heart  to  see  one  who  was  inexpressibly  dear  to  him,  yet 
he  never  visited  any  foreign  country  without  making  a 
careful  study  of  its  natural  features  and  resources  ;  of 


252  MELBOURNE. 

its  towns  and  cities ;  and  above  all,  of  its  population. 
In  every  place  to  which  he  came  he  had  his  eyes  open, 
observing  and  reflecting  as  to  the  future  of  the  new 
world  which  was  rising  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere. 
Though  Australia  was  no  longer  to  be  drawn  on  the 
map,  and  spoken  of  in  geographies,  as  an  island,  but 
as  a  Continent,  it  had  many  disadvantages  in  the  vast 
wastes  of  the  interior,  that  were  as  desolate  as  the 
steppes  of  Siberia,  or  the  Desert  of  Sahara.  Yet  it 
had  many  compensating  advantages  in  its  coast  line  of 
thousands  of  miles,  indented  with  bays  and  ports  for 
commerce,  and  above  all  in  being  settled  by  the  mighty 
English  race,  who  have  been  the  colonizers  and  civil- 
izers  of  so  large  a  part  of  the  world. 

Thus  delightfully  occupied  in  observations  of  every 
thing  round  him,  and  above  all  in  the  charming  domestic 
scene  in  the  Government  House,  the  weeks  in  Adelaide 
flew  quickly.  But  at  last  he  had  to  tear  himself  away, 
and  they  took  a  coast  steamer  for  Melbourne,  where 
he  was  surprised  to  find  a  city  not  forty  years  old, 
(it  was  first  settled  in  1835,)  with  over  two  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants  ;  with  streets  as  wide  as  our  New 
York  avenues  ;  with  stately  Parliament  Houses  ;  an 
University  and  a  Cathedral ;  libraries  and  museums  ; 
a  Royal  Park  and  other  public  gardens  ;  with  courts 
of  law  and  banking  houses,  representing  the  great  firms 
of  London ;  and  clubs  and  theatres  and  all  the  signs 
of  European  civilization.  Best  of  all,  were  the  private 


SYDNEY   AND   BRISBANE.  253 

residences,  whose  architecture  and  tasteful  surround 
ings  showed  that  they  were  the  abodes,  not  only  of 
wealth,  but  of  English  culture  and  refinement. 

Another  sail  along  the  coast  brought  them  to  Sydney, 
the  old  Botany  Bay,  to  which  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century  England  transported  its  criminals,  but  that  had 
proved  itself  worthy  of  another  population,  which  gave 
it  a  character  befitting  the  capital  of  New  South  Wales, 
whose  schools  and  colleges  and  churches  showed  that  it 
too,  like  Melbourne,  was  modelled  after  dear  old  England. 

Continuing  northward,  the  steamer  stopped  for  a  day 
at  Brisbane,  the  capital  of  Queensland,  where  Mr.  Field 
went  up  to  the  city  and  dined  with  the  Governor,  Lord 
Normanby,  little  dreaming  that  his  son-in-law,  Sir 
Anthony  Musgrave  (after  being  five  years  Governor  of 
Jamaica),  would  be  Governor  of  Queensland,  and  there 
die  and  be  buried  far  from  his  native  England  ! 

And  now  they  were  no  longer  on  the  open  sea,  as 
they  passed  inside  of  the  Great  Barrier  Reef,  the  most 
extensive  range  of  coral  reefs  in  the  world,  which  forms 
a  mighty  breakwater  within  which  they  had  as  com 
plete  inland  navigation  as  if  they  were  on  the  coast  of 
Norway  or  the  voyage  to  Alaska. 

The  last  persons  they  saw  in  Australia  were  two 
American  missionaries,  husband  and  wife,  standing  on 
the  high  bank  of  Cape  Torrens,  and  waving  them  a 
farewell,  a  benediction  which  they  heartily  returned, 
for  one  result  of  Mr.  Field's  journey  round  the  world 


254  CROSSING  THE   EQUATOR. 

was  to  exalt  his  opinion  of  the  character  of  the  mission 
aries,  and  of  the  work  they  were  doing,  and  he  was 
often  heard  to  say  that,  if  he  had  to  choose  between 
them  and  our  consuls,  or  even  many  of  our  ministers, 
he  would  take  the  former  as  the  best  representatives 
of  his  country. 

As  they  approached  the  Equator,  the  sun  was  more 
directly  over  their  head,  and  the  heat  was  so  oppressive, 
though  relieved  somewhat  by  the  trade- winds,  that  they 
were  more  than  willing  to  take  a  long  siesta  in  the  mid 
day  hours,  and  keep  watch  by  night.  It  is  commonly 
supposed  that  the  constellations  of  the  Northern  Hemi 
sphere  are  more  brilliant  than  those  of  the  Southern, 
but  in  those  midnights  it  seemed  as  if  the  stars  came 
nearer  to  the  earth,  and  the  heavens  glowed  with 
immeasurable  splendor. 

The  culmination  of  their  long  voyage  was  in  the 
Arafura  Sea,  where,  between  the  islands  of  Bali  and 
Lombok,  they  were  so  near  the  shore  that  they  saw  the 
natives  about  their  cabins,  while  above  them  rose  the 
Peak  of  Bali,  twelve  thousand  feet  high — just  the 
height  of  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe — which  was  girdled 
with  three  zones  :  one  from  the  sea  upwards  to  the 
clouds  ;  the  second  a  robe  of  clouds,  where  a  storm 
with  lightning  was  playing  ;  and  the  third  the  clear 
top,  shining  in  the  sky. 

And  now  they  were  sweeping  along  the  shores  of 
Java,  one  of  the  richest  islands  in  the  world,  with  its 


JAVA    AND    SUMATRA.  255 

background  of  lofty  mountains,  and  its  foreground  of 
rich  tropical  vegetation,  over  which  towered  its  majestic 
palms ;  an  island  that  supports  a  population  of  thirty 
millions,  ten  times  that  of  the  whole  continent  of  Aus 
tralia  !  It  was  night  before  they  anchored  off  Batavia, 
but  so  eager  was  Mr.  Field  to  go  on  shore,  that  he  went 
at  once,  and  at  daybreak  was  exploring  a  city  which,  by 
its  innumerable  canals,  showed  that  it  was  in  many  fea 
tures  a  reproduction  of  its  ancestral  Holland. 

Turning  Northward  from  Java,  they  had  in  view 
for  two  days  the  island  of  Sumatra,  a  thousand  miles 
long,  and  larger  than  all  Great  Britain.  In  this  last 
stretch  they  crossed  the  Equator,  and  were  once  more 
in  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  as  they  landed  at  Singa 
pore,  the  Southern  point  of  Asia  ! 

Here  they  were  still  under  English  dominion.  The 
Governor  was  Sir  Andrew  Clarke,  who  invited  Mr. 
Field  to  dinner,  at  which  he  met  the  Maharajah  of 
Johore,  who  came  in  Oriental  dress,  and  brought 
his  cook  with  him,  that  he  might  not  eat  forbid 
den  meats.  The  Attorney- General  also  called  on  Mr. 
Field,  and  when  asked  what  was  the  judicial  procedure 
of  the  Straits  Settlements,  answered  that  they  had  the 
New  York  Code,  which,  of  course,  was  very  gratifying 
to  one  who  had  the  chief  part  in  framing  that  Code  on 
the  other  side  of  the  world.  It  seemed  to  say  that 
justice  is  of  no  country  ;  that  it  is  the  same  in  all  lati- 


256  SINGAPORE   AND   HONG   KONG. 

tudes  and  longitudes  ;  the  rightful  inheritance  of  all 
climes  and  of  all  the  races  of  men. 

From  Singapore  it  is  a  week's  sail  to  Hong  Kong, 
but  here  too  he  did  not  come  as  a  stranger,  for  his 
Codes  had  gone  before  him,  and  the  Governor,  Sir 
Arthur  Kennedy  and  Chief  Justice  Smale  joined  to 
do  him  honor  ;  while  Messrs.  Burroughs  and  Russell, 
American  merchants,  received  them  with  that  generous 
hospitality  which  the  great  mercantile  houses  in  the  East 
are  always  so  ready  to  show  to  distinguished  visitors. 

From  Hong  Kong  it  is  but  a  few  hours'  sail  across 
the  strait  and  up  the  Canton  River  to  the  great  city 
of  that  name,  where  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Field  were  received 
by  Mr.  Cunningham,  agent  of  the  firm  of  Russell 
and  Company,  whose  ample  establishment  was  put  at 
their  disposal,  and  partly  fitted  up  to  receive  them. 
Here  they  were  treated  with  great  hospitality  ;  every 
day  English  or  American  residents  were  invited  to 
meet  them  at  dinner.  Archdeacon  Gray  of  the  English 
Church  accompanied  them  in  their  excursions  ;  the  most 
remarkable  of  which  were  a  visit  to  the  place  of  behead 
ing,  a  real  Potter's  Field,  (where  they  were  shown  the 
cleaver  with  which  heads  were  struck  off,  and  a  bag 
containing  heads  that  were  waiting  to  be  sent  to  the 
homes  of  those  who  had  suffered  death  ; )  and  a  visit 
to  the  Courts,  where  the  accused  were  brought  in  with 
chains  about  their  necks  ;  one  end  of  which  was  passed 
through  a  hole  in  a  heavy  stone,  that  the  poor  wretch  had 


CHINESE   JUSTICE.  257 

to  carry  when  he  moved.  As  he  came  before  the  Judge, 
he  laid  the  stone  on  the  floor  and  prostrated  himself, 
when  the  charge  of  crime  was  read  to  him,  and  he  was 
sternly  interrogated  about  it,  and  his  answers  writ 
ten  down.  One  of  the  accused  denied  his  guilt  and 
stoutly  protested  his  innocence,  at  which  the  Judge 
ordered  him  to  be  put  to  the  torture,  not  by  the  rack, 
or  by  the  touch  of  red-hot  iron,  but  by  hanging  him 
up  by  the  thumbs  and  toes,  which  was  agony  enough. 
The  man  stood  it  for  about  ten  minutes,  when  he  con 
fessed  and  was  let  down — a  short  way  to  extort  a  con 
fession,  not  always  from  the  guilty,  for  it  might  be 
from  the  most  innocent,  who  would  confess  any  crime 
rather  than  suffer  an  agony  that  was  worse  than  death 
itself.  This  Chinese  justice  showed  that  China  had 
hardly  emerged  from  barbarism.  Instead  of  being  a 
sign  of  civilization,  it  was  but  a  ghastly  token  of  man's 
inhumanity  to  man. 

They  returned  by  Macao,  which  is  a  little  peninsula 
long  ago  granted  to  the  Portuguese,  and  once  a  place 
of  some  commercial  importance.  It  is  now  as  quiet 
as  a  country  village,  but  the  beauty  of  nature  still 
remains,  enhanced  by  an  interesting  historical  associa 
tion,  as  the  visitor  is  taken  into  a  pretty  garden  in 
which  Camoens,  the  Portuguese  poet,  wrote  the  Lusiad. 

From  Hong  Kong  the  travellers  took  passage  by  the 
French  steamer  to  Shanghai,  where  they  had  a  hearty 
welcome  from  our  Consul,  Mr.  Seward,  and  Mr.  Wil- 


258  AN   OFFICIAL   VISIT. 

Ham  H.  Fogg,  a  merchant  from  New  York.  As  Mr. 
Seward  had  an  official  visit  to  make  to  the  Tao-tai,  the 
head  man  of  Shanghai,  answering  to  a  French  Prefect, 
he  asked  Mr.  Field  to  accompany  him.  So  one  morning 
they  set  out  in  their  sedan  chairs,  winding  through  the 
narrow  streets  till,  as  they  approached  the  official  resi 
dence,  they  were  saluted  with  fireworks  like  Roman 
candles.  The  Tao-tai  came  forward  to  meet  them,  and 
took  them  into  a  room  with  benches  011  three  sides, 
where  he  waved  them  to  the  right  and  left,  and  took  his 
seat  between  them.  Tea  was  then  brought  in,  which 
is  always  preliminary  to  any  official  discussion,  and 
when  the  latter  was  ended,  they  retired  with  the  same 
courteous  formality. 

But  still  more  interesting  to  Mr.  Field  was  it  to  see 
the  administration  of  justice,  which  had  also  its  peculiar 
features.  As  Shanghai  had  quite  a  large  foreign  pop 
ulation,  there  were  mixed  tribunals,  in  which  foreign 
Consuls  sat  with  the  Chinese  authorities  to  watch  the 
proceedings.  Mr.  Field  was  present  one  morning  when 
Mr.  Seward  sat  with  a  Chinese  judge  who  despatched 
business  without  much  ceremony,  as  in  a  case  where 
there  was  a  contest  over  a  pile  of  silver  dollars,  which 
were  laid  on  the  table.  He  made  short  work  of  it  by 
reaching  out  his  hand,  and  taking  a  part  and  passing 
it  over  to  one  man,  and  the  remainder  to  the  other. 

The  next  case  was  a  criminal  one.  The  culprit  was 
found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  be  flogged,  which  was 


THE  INLAND   SEA  AND   JAPAN.  259 

done  at  once.  He  was  laid  upon  his  face  on  the  ground, 
while  the  executioner  took  a  bundle  of  rods  and  began 
to  whip  his  bared  legs.  The  man  cried  lustily,  and  when 
he  got  up  was  further  punished  by  the  cagne,  which  is 
made  of  two  pieces  of  board,  each  with  a  half  circle 
cut  in  it,  to  be  put  together  round  the  neck,  so  that  the 
man  could  not  lay  his  head  on  a  pillow  or  on  the  ground, 
nor  reach  his  face  with  his  hands.  A  more  cruel  pun 
ishment  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  Is  it  that  the 
enormous  population  of  China  makes  them  indifferent 
to  human  life  or  human  suffering  ? 

Leaving  Shanghai  in  one  of  the  Pacific  Company's 
steamers  for  Japan,  they  passed  through  the  Inland  Sea, 
which,  with  its  thousands  of  islands,  is  the  most  beau 
tiful  Archipelago  in  the  world.  The  American  passen 
gers  were  reminded  that  they  were  Hearing  home  as 
one  evening  they  heard  voices  on  the  upper  deck  sing 
ing  "  Marching  through  Georgia  !  " 

From  Yokohama  Mr.  Field  made  a  visit  to  Tokio, 
and  an  excursion  to  Iiioshima  and  to  the  great  statue  of 
Buddha  at  Dai-Butz.  The  evening  before  he  left  he 
dined  with  Iwakura,  the  Prime  Minister  of  Japan,  at 
his  palace,  in  company  with  Mr.  Bingham,  the  Amer 
ican  Minister.  Except  for  the  swarthy  figures  and 
Oriental  costumes,  the  dinner  might  have  been  given 
in  Paris,  as  the  service  was  in  the  French  style,  even 
to  the  champagne. 

In  Yokohama  he  met  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  the  British 


260  GOOD   BYE   TO   THE   OLD   WORLD. 

Minister,  who  had  been  long  in  the  East,  and  had  a 
life  of  incident,  not  unmixed  with  danger.  One  eve 
ning,  as  they  were  talking  of  the  old  times,  he  told  of 
an  attack  made  upon  him  and  his  party  by  fanatics  in 
Osaka  some  years  before.  They  were  passing  through 
the  streets  escorted  by  English  soldiers,  when  some 
Japanese  fanatics  rushed  upon  them  with  sharp  drawn 
swords  and  began  cutting  at  the  soldiers.  They  did 
bloody  work,  and  one  was  bleeding  freely,  when  Sir 
Harry  rushed  up  to  him  and  bade  him  stand  his  ground, 
saying,  "Remember  that  you  are  an  English  soldier  !" 

He  had  come  as  near  losing  his  head  in  China  as 
in  Japan.  Dean  Stanley  told  Mr.  Field  that  Sir 
Harry  once  described  his  conversation  with  a  fellow- 
prisoner,  who  with  him  was  condemned  by  the  Chinese 
authorities  to  be  executed  the  next  morning  !  They 
passed  a  part  of  the  night  in  comparing  the  sensations 
they  expected  to  feel  when  led  out  to  execution  ! 
A  gruesome  subject  indeed  for  their  midnight  hours  ! 
But  by  some  happy  intervention  the  morning  brought 
light  into  the  prison  cell,  and  the  execution  was  indefin 
itely  postponed. 

When  our  travellers  left  Japan,  they  said  good  bye 
to  the  Old  World.  As  they  steamed  out  of  the  harbor 
of  Yokohama  the  crews  of  the  American  ships  of  war 
gave  them  three  cheers.  That  was  their  last  recogni 
tion,  for  once  on  the  Pacific  they  saw  not  a  sign  of  life 
for  seventeen  days  as  they  bore  away  to  the  East,  over 


HOME  AGAIN.  261 

a  sea  as  calm  as  that  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  and  which 
gave  them  the  same  sense  of  the  infinite.  Day  after 
day  they  saw  nothing  but  the  blue  sky  above  and  the 
blue  waters  below,  with  the  long  swell,  that  never  broke 
into  a  ripple,  over  which  the  great  ship  moved  as  if 
conscious  of  her  strength.  On  the  last  day,  as  they 
approached  the  coast,  they  ran  into  a  heavy  fog,  which 
compelled  them  to  slow  up  for  two  or  three  hours,  when 
all  at  once  it  lifted  and  disclosed  the  bright  top  of  a 
mountain  ten  miles  below  San  Francisco.  At  this  the 
good  ship  seemed  to  lift  up  her  head,  and  dashing  on 
with  the  speed  of  a  race-horse,  passed  the  Golden  Gate 
into  the  great  harbor  of  the  West,  and  stood  still. 

.  Their  arrival  was  not  unexpected,  as  Mr.  Field's 
brother,  the  Justice,  who  was  here  from  Washington, 
was  waiting  for  him,  and  with  other  kinsfolk,  the  Ash- 
burners,  made  the  wanderers  feel  that  they  were  once 
more  at  home,  and  in  a  few  days  they  were  rested 
from  their  voyage.  A  special  car  was  put  at  their  dis 
posal  as  far  as  Salt  Lake,  where  they  halted  and  visited 
the  Mormon  City,  and  had  an  interview  with  Brigham 
Young,  who  generously  offered  to  introduce  Mrs.  Field 
to  his  seventeen  wives — an  honor  which  she  politely 
declined  !  The  next  day  they  continued  their  journey, 
and  reached  their  Stockbridge  home  in  July,  1874, 
where,  looking  down  from  the  hill  top,  they  felt  that  in 
all  the  world  there  was  no  spot  quite  so  restful  as  this 
"Happy  Valley"  nestled  in  the  Berkshire  Hills. 


CHAPTEE  XVIII. 

A  NEW  CHAPTER   IN  POLITICS.      A  DISPUTED    PRESI 
DENTIAL  ELECTION.     TWO  MONTHS  IN  CONGRESS. 

When  a  man  has  just  returned  from  a  voyage  to  the 
Antipodes,  he  might  be  excused  if  he  should  take  at 
least  a  breathing  spell  before  he  starts  off  on  a  new 
expedition.  But  Mr.  Field  was  not  as  other  men  are. 
He  was  still  in  his  prime,  in  his  seventieth  year,  and  it 
was  not  in  him  to  rest  while  there  were  new  worlds  to 
conquer.  The  year  before,  when  he  helped  to  form  the 
Association  in  Brussels,  he  promised  to  be  present  at 
the  next  meeting,  though  meanwhile  he  had  to  make 
the  circuit  of  the  globe,  and  the  very  next  month  after 
he  reached  home,  he  was  again  on  the  sea. 

This  time  the  meeting  was  at  Geneva  in  Switzerland, 
where  he  found  that  the  good  seed  had  taken  root,  and 
was  bearing  fruit  in  the  Old  World  as  well  as  the  New. 
It  received  a  new  impulse  from  the  very  place  of  its 
meeting,  in  the  ' t  Salle  d' Alabama, "  so  called  from  the 
fact  that  in  it  had  met  the  representatives  of  different 
nations  to  arbitrate  between  England  and  America  as 
to  the  claims  of  the  latter  for  the  ships  destroyed  by 
the  Alabama  in  our  civil  war,  for  which  the  arbitrators 


MEETING   IN   GENEVA.  263 

awarded  to  our  country  an  indemnity  of  fifteen  millions 
of  dollars.  This  had  made  the  hall  historic,  in  memory 
of  which  it  was  ornamented  with  agricultural  imple 
ments,  which  had  been  moulded  out  of  cannon,  to  sig 
nify  that  the  reign  of  peace  was  approaching,  when  the 
nations  should  learn  war  no  more. 

During  the  year  past  the  Association  had  become 
known  even  in  the  Far  East.  When  Mr.  Field  was 
in  Japan  he  dined  with  the  Prime  Minister  Iwakura, 
and  in  the  course  of  conversation  mentioned  that  on  his 
return  to  America  he  was  again  to  cross  the  sea  to 
attend  the  meeting  of  the  Association  for  the  Reform 
and  Codification  of  the  Law  of  Nations,  which  was  to 
be  held  in  October  at  Geneva,  and  suggested  that  Japan 
should  send  a  delegate  !  The  Minister  was  at  once 
interested,  but  did  not  know  whether  the  Council,  or 
some  official  body  mentioned  by  him,  would  approve  of 
it  in  the  time  required.  But  when  the  time  came  and 
Mr.  Field  was  on  his  way  to  his  destination,  he  saw  in 
the  papers  that  the  Japanese  envoy  to  Rome  was  also 
en  route  to  Geneva  to  attend  the  meeting.  There  he 
was  indeed,  with  his  wife,  and  two  very  intelligent  and 
interesting  persons  they  were,  and  added  much  to  the 
pleasure  of  the  European  delegates. 

These  annual  meetings  were  getting  to  be  great 
events  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Field.  As  he  was  a  good 
sailor,  he  thought  nothing  of  the  week's  voyage.  The 
change  from  life  on  shore  was  grateful  to  him,  and  he 


264  JUDGES   IN   THE 

could  sit  on  deck  in  any  weather,  and  drink  in  the  salt 
sea  air  with  a  feeling  of  exhilaration. 

The  next  year  the  Association  met  at  The  Hague, 
where  it  was  received  with  great  distinction,  not  only 
by  the  notables  of  the  bench  and  the  bar,  but  by  the 
court.  As  the  King  of  the  Netherlands  was  absent,  the 
Queen  and  the  Ministers,  and  the  two  Chambers,  hon 
ored  them  with  all  manner  of  attentions,  ending  with  a 
reception  by  the  Queen  at  the  "Palace  in  the  Wood." 
In  two  weeks  he  was  again  on  the  ocean  on  his  return. 

At  home  he  took  life  more  easily,  going  up  to  Albany 
now  and  then  to  argue  a  case  before  the  Court  of  Appeals, 
where  he  was  a  little — or  not  a  little — shocked  at  the 
free  and  easy  way  of  conducting  the  proceedings,  and 
finally  persuaded  both  judges  and  advocates  to  adopt  a 
little  more  of  ceremony  :  the  judges  to  wear  gowns,  like 
the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
which  seemed  to  be  the  fitting  * '  robes  of  justice  "  ;  and 
the  bar  to  rise  as  the  judges  entered,  and  stand  till  they 
had  taken  their  seats.  A  little  of  this  observance  of  the 
stately  forms  of  the  past,  he  thought,  by  adding  to  the 
outward  dignity,  added  also  to  the  respect  due  to  the 
highest  courts  of  justice. 

From  Albany  it  was  an  easy  change  to  Washing 
ton,  where  he  was  still  more  at  home,  not  only  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  but  among  the  old  habitues  of  the 
National  Capital,  some  of  whom  seemed  to  belong  to 
another  generation.  Thus  he  writes  March  1,  1875  : 


A  NEW  YEAR  OPENS  IN  PEACE.         265 

'  *  Being  in  Washington,  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  elder 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blair,  both  of  whom  are  more  than  eighty 
years  old,  and  yet  vigorous  in  mind,  and  (except  that 
he  is  a  little  weak  in  the  legs)  strong  enough  in  body  to 
ride  on  horseback  !  What  a  picture  from  the  days  of 
our  fathers  it  must  be  to  see  this  aged  couple  riding 
together  over  the  hills,  as  we  may  suppose  that  Martha 
Washington  rode  beside  her  husband  a  hundred  years 
ago  ! " 

The  greatest  satisfaction  to  him  was  to  find  that 
"the  war  was  over,"  not  only  on  the  battle-field,  but 
in  personal  relations,  as  well  as  in  political  life.  After 
four  years  of  war,  it  had  taken  ten  years  of  peace  before 
the  angry  waves  were  lulled  to  rest.  But  that  happy 
time  had  come  at  last.  On  the  same  date  he  wrote  : 

4 '  I  think  the  revolution  in  our  politics  is  over,  and 
that  hereafter  we  shall  see  things  moving  in  their  usual 
channels.  A  Democratic  House  of  Representatives 
comes  into  power  on  Friday,  the  4th  of  March,  and  we 
shall  have  no  more  Enforcement  Acts,  Force  Bills,  Civil 
Rights  Bills  or  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus." 

This  blissful  state  of  mind  continued  through  the 
year,  and  on  the  next  first  of  January  (1876)  he  wrote  : 

"At  midnight  the  bells  rung  out  their  chimes  to  salute  both 
the  parting  and  the  incoming  year.  I  listened  till  they  died 
away  at  half -past  twelve.  This  morning  the  flags  are  flying  on 
every  flag-staff  in  the  city,  to  greet  the  centennial  year.  This 
patriotic  fervor  is  a  beautiful  thing.  With  it  no  nation  can  fall ; 


266  THE   PRESIDENTIAL   ELECTION. 

without  it  no  nation  can  stand  long.  We  have  many  faults,  but 
there  is  at  bottom  a  fund  of  good  sense,  energy,  love  of  right  and 
love  of  country,  that  will,  I  believe,  carry  us  through  all  perils. 
Every  man,  however,  must  do  his  duty  to  the  public.  The 
trouble  with  us  has  been  that  each  has  been  too  much  absorbed 
in  seeking  his  own  prosperity.  As  if  in  sympathy  with  the  time, 
the  weather  has  become  perfect.  The  air  is  like  May  and  the 
sun  warm." 

Little  did  he  think  that  a  new  storm  was  impending, 
that  would  try  the  strength  of  our  institutions  almost 
as  much  as  the  war  itself,  and  bring  him  quite  unex 
pectedly  into  public  life.  The  crisis  was  one  unknown 
in  our  history,  and  which  the  fathers  of  the  Republic 
never  dreamed  of,  even  as  a  possibility — a  disputed 
Presidential  election  !  Through  the  ordeal  of  an  elec 
tion  the  country  had  to  pass  in  every  four  years,  and 
the  time  came  round  in  the  Centennial  year  of  1876,  as 
that  completed  a  hundred  years  from  the  date  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  But  of  the  course  of 
events  that  year  I  knew  little,  as  I  had  been  for  more 
than  a  year  following  my  brother  round  the  globe, 
and  I  remember  well  that,  as  we  entered  the  harbor  of 
San  Francisco,  and  the  custom  house  officers  came  on 
board,  in  my  eagerness  for  news,  my  first  question  was, 
' '  Who  has  been  nominated  for  President  at  the  Con 
vention  in  Cincinnati  ?  ",  fully  expecting  to  hear  the 
name  of  James  G.  Blaine,  when  to  my  surprise  the 
answer  was  "Rutherford  B.  Hayes,"  then  Governor  of 
Ohio,  a  name  that,  however  honorable  in  peace  and  in 


TILDEN   ELECTED.  267 

war,  (for  he  had  been  in  the  army,  and  borne  a  brave 
and  a  manly  part  in  fighting  for  his  country,)  I  had 
never  happened  to  hear  before  ;  while  on  the  other  side 
had  been  nominated  Mr.  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  the  Gov 
ernor  of  New  York,  whom  I  had  known  for  twenty 
years,  as  he  was  not  only  a  resident  of  the  city,  but 
lived  on  Gramercy  Park,  a  few  doors  from  my  brothers, 
so  that  I  knew  all  his  goings  out  and  comings  in. 
Between  these  two  candidates,  I  thought  we  were  sure 
to  have  a  good  man,  who,  if  not  a  great  President,  like 
Washington  or  Jefferson  or  Lincoln,  would  be  at  least 
a  figure-head  of  the  Great  Republic,  of  whom  we  should 
have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed. 

The  election  took  place  on  the  6th  day  of  November, 
and  the  next  morning  it  was  announced  all  over  the 
country,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  that  Mr.  Tilden  had 
received  203  votes  in  the  Electoral  College,  while  Mr. 
Hayes  had  received  but  166.  It  was  a  very  simple  sum 
in  arithmetic  for  any  school-boy  to  subtract  the  one  from 
the  other,  which  gave  Mr.  Tilden  the  handsome  majority 
of  37  electoral  votes,  so  that  he  was  duly  elected  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  !  The  Republicans  gave  it  up. 
The  New  York  Tribune  admitted  it  without  a  question, 
explaining  it  in  the  only  simple  and  natural  way,  that 
it  was  all  because  ' '  Mr.  Tilden  had  too  many  votes  !  " 

But  those  were  the  days  of  the  "carpet-baggers," 
when  the  Southern  States  were  still  in  the  hands  of 
Northern  men,  many  of  them  worthless  adventurers, 


268  A   PLOT   TO   CHANGE   THE   RESULT. 

who  had  gone  South  after  the  war  to  spoil  the  Egyp 
tians,  and  who  had  the  votes  in  their  hands,  and  the 
battle  was  not  lost  until  they  had  made  out  the  official 
returns,  and  if  perchance  the  majority  happened  to  be 
on  the  wrong  side,  what  more  easy  than  to  throw  out 
a  sufficient  number,  on  the  plea  of  fraud,  to  turn 
the  scales  the  other  way  ?  The  Democrats  might  do 
the  voting,  but  as  long  as  the  Republican  * '  returning 
boards"  did  the  counting,  they  could  laugh  at  any 
Democratic  majorities. 

This  was  a  line  of  operation  of  infinite  possibili 
ties,  and  a  certain  "managing  editor"  figured  it  out 
that  if  the  returns  from  Louisiana,  which  had  eight 
electoral  votes,  and  from  South  Carolina,  which  had 
seven,  and  from  Florida,  which  had  four,  making  nine 
teen  in  all,  could  be  taken  from  the  column  of  Tilden, 
and  put  to  the  credit  of  Hayes,  it  would  give  the  latter 
a  majority  of  one  !  This  was  a  scheme  fitly  hatched  in 
the  dark  hours  of  night,  which  had  been  no  sooner  con 
ceived  than  the  plotter,  eager  to  set  it  in  motion,  has 
tened  up  town,  to  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  and  waked 
a  Western  Senator,  who  was  one  of  the  war  horses  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  who  believed  that  in  politics, 
as  in  war,  anything  was  lawful  to  beat  the  enemy  !  To 
him  was  communicated  the  Gunpowder  Plot  to  blow  the 
Democrats  sky  high  !  "  But  the  election  was  over  !  " 
' '  Oh  yes,  but  it  was  not  too  late  to  change  the  result,  for 
the  whole  business  was  not  settled  till  the  official  returns 


HOW  TO  ALTER  THE  RETURNS.         269 

were  made  !  "  The  policy  was  to  keep  these  back  till  it 
should  be  seen  just  what  change  of  votes  would  be  neces 
sary  to  make  a  majority  on  the  other  side  !  To  help 
them  in  their  plot,  the  conspirators  had  a  private  code  by 
which  they  could  communicate  with  the  boards  at  the 
South,  telling  them  not  to  make  their  returns  to  Wash 
ington  till  they  had  received  the  fullest  information  and 
instruction  from  the  North  ! 

Never  was  a  plot  more  skilfully  laid,  nor  one  in 
which  the  engineers  were  more  completely  masters  of 
the  situation.  The  wicked  partners  at  the  South  were 
ready  to  swear  to  anything  !  If  the  Democrats  had 
carried  Louisiana  by  a  few  hundred,  or  a  few  thousand 
majority,  the  Republican  managers  would  take  their 
solemn  oath  that  there  had  been  much  more  than  that 
number  of  fraudulent  votes,  for  it  was  always  wise  to 
have  a  liberal  margin  ! 

But  was  it  possible  that  such  a  made-up  majority 
reversing  the  actual  vote  would  be  accepted  by  Con 
gress  ?  That  was  the  question.  As  if  to  complicate 
the  case  still  more,  the  two  houses  were  divided — for 
while  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  had  been 
more  recently  elected  by  the  people,  was  largely  Demo 
cratic  (so  that  if  there  were  no  election  by  the  Electoral 
College,  and  the  choice  were  thrown  into  the  House, 
it  would  immediately  elect  Mr.  Tilden),  yet  the  Senate, 
which  held  over,  was  still  strongly  Republican.  Between 
the  two  there  was  a  strife  that  agitated  the  whole  coun- 


EXCITEMENT    THROUGHOUT    THE    COUNTRY. 

try  to  such  a  degree  that  there  were  fears  that  it  might 
culminate  in  another  civil  war.  Some  bold  hunters  of 
Kentucky  threatened  to  march  on  Washington  with  a 
hundred  thousand  men  !  ' '  And  they  will  soon  see  what 
we  shall  do  with  them  !  "  was  Grant's  quick  reply.  But 
the  uneasiness  was  universal.  Congress  met  on  the  4th 
of  December,  but  business  was  paralyzed  by  this  all- 
engrossing  question. 

Mr.  Tilden  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  represented 
in  the  House  by  his  most  intimate  personal  friend,  Mr. 
Abram  S.  Hewitt,  afterwards  Mayor  of  New  York  ; 
but  it  was  important  to  have  also  a  legal  representative 
to  meet  the  constitutional  questions  that  might  arise, 
and  as  there  was  a  vacancy  in  the  delegation  from 
the  city  by  the  resignation  of  Smith  Ely,  who  had 
been  chosen  Mayor,  Mr.  Tilden  wished  Mr.  Field  to 
take  the  vacant  place,  and  he  was  accordingly  nomi 
nated  and  elected,  and  served  to  the  end  of  the  term.* 

No  sooner  had  he  entered  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  than  he  became  a  very  conspicuous  figure  by  his 
attacks  upon  what  he  regarded  as  the  brazen  infamy 
of  the  false  returns.  One  of  the  side  scenes  was  the 
examination  of  the  Boards  of  Louisiana  and  Florida, 
for  which  the  House  had  appointed  a  special  committee. 


*  Strange  to  say,  Mr.  Field  had  voted  for  Hayes,  but  so  con 
vinced  was  he  that  Tilden  was  elected,  that  his  sense  of  justice 
revolted  from  an  intrigue  to  rob  him.  of  the  high  office  to  which 
he  had  been  chosen  by  the  American  people. 


MR.    FIELD    IN   CONGRESS.  271 

At  one  or  two  of  these  examinations  I  was  present,  and 
it  was  truly  pitiful  to  see  how  the  perjurers  writhed 
under  the  questions  of  their  merciless  interrogator.  It 
was  only  necessary  to  look  in  their  hang-dog  faces  to 
see  that  they  were  well  aware  that  they  did  not,  and 
could  not,  deceive  their  inquisitors  !  And  yet  one  could 
only  look  at  them  with  a  sort  of  contemptuous  pity  for 
the  poor  creatures  who  were  throwing  away  their  honor, 
if  they  had  any  to  lose,  for  the  benefit  of  outsiders  who 
took  good  care  not  to  expose  themselves  to  the  just 
punishment  of  the  law. 

But  the  work  to  be  done  was  not  confined  to  the 
exposure  of  false  witnesses.  There  were  legal  questions 
to  be  settled  by  the  highest  authorities.  As  a  supe 
riority  to  the  House  was  assumed  by  the  Senate,  as  the 
body  that  was  to  receive  the  returns,  to  open  the  cer 
tificates,  and  declare  the  result,  it  became  necessary 
that  the  House  should  assert  itself,  and  Mr.  Field  drew 
five  resolutions  on  the  power  of  the  House  in  respect 
to  the  electoral  count,  which  were  reported  from  the 
special  committee  by  Proctor  Knott  and  Randolph 
Tucker.  He  drew  also  the  objections  to  counting  the 
votes  of  Louisiana  and  Florida  ;  and  further,  as  some 
timid  folk  were  afraid  that  the  country  would  go  to 
pieces  if  it  should  be  without  a  President  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  he  drew  a  bill,  which  passed  the  House, 
to  provide  for  the  administration  of  the  Presidency 
in  case  of  a  failure  to  elect  !  One  step  farther  was 


THE   ELECTORAL    COMMISSION. 

the  drawing  of  a  bill  for  the  legal  procedure  called 
quo  ivarranto,  which  the  Democratic  caucus  voted  to 
have  brought  in,  and  which  Mr.  Field  did  bring  in,  but 
which  did  not  pass  the  House.  Here  he  thought  his  own 
party  flinched  from  their  guns,  for  he  was  very  confident 
that  if  he  could  once  get  the  case  before  the  courts, 
Mr.  Tilden  would  have  established  his  title  within  six 
months,  unless  indeed  all  law  was  trampled  down  by 
the  violence  of  party  spirit. 

But  now  all  these  dreams  and  warlike  preparations 
were  laid  aside  by  a  new  proposal.  As  there  was  a 
dead-lock  between  the  two  Houses,  wisdom  finally  pre 
vailed  to  this  extent,  that  their  difference  of  opinion 
i  should  be  submitted  to  an  impartial  tribunal  composed 
of  five  Senators,  five  Representatives,  and  five  members 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  fifteen  in  all,  which  sat  for  sev 
eral  days  in  the  court  room,  where  Mr.  Field  and  Mr. 
Charles  O'Conor  were  on  one  side,  and  Mr.  Evarts  on 
the  other.  The  argument  of  the  latter  it  was  my  privi 
lege  to  hear,  and  it  was  a  great  forensic  display,  although 
his  opponents  might  say  that  it  showed  more  ability 
than  fairness.  His  whole  argument  revolved  round  one 
point  :  that  the  Commission  had  no  poiuer — as  Con 
gress  had  no  poiver — to  go  behind  the  returns.  Even 
though  they  believed  them,  or  even  knew  them,  to  be 
false,  there  was  no  remedy  !  The  constitutional  pro 
vision  was  simply  that  ' '  The  President  of  the  Senate 
shall,  in  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 


CANNOT   GO   BEHIND   THE   RETURNS   !  273 

sentatives,  open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall 
then  be  counted."  But  ivhat  votes?  The  real  votes 
deposited  by  lawful  voters,  or  the  result  of  stuffed 
ballot  boxes,  or  a  false  count  ?  No  matter  for  that  ! 
Right  or  wrong,  just  or  unjust,  it  must  stand  !  I  can 
hear  him  now  saying,  and  repeating,  that  there  was  no 
power  that  could  go  behind  the  Returning  Boards  ;  that 
the  work  was  put  into  their  hands  "to  be  done,  and 
so  done  that  it  could  not  be  undone  !  " 

This  was  the  argument  used  in  the  Electoral  Commis 
sion,  when  they  sat  by  themselves  to  render  their  decision. 
In  vain  did  Mr.  Justice  Field  put  an  imaginary  case  : 

"Suppose  the  canvassers  had  made  a  mistake  in 
footing  up  the  returns,  that  changed  the  result  of  the 
election — a  mistake  that  they  discovered  before  the  vote 
was  counted:  was  there  no  remedy?"  "No  !"  was 
the  answer.  "Then,"  said  the  Justice,  "a  mistake  in 
arithmetic,  in  the  adding  up  of  figures,  may  elect  a 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  Congress  is  power 
less  to  prevent  it  !  "  Again  he  asked  : 

"  Suppose  the  canvassers  were  bribed;  or  had  entered 
into  a  conspiracy  to  commit  a  fraud  ;  and  in  pursuance 
of  the  bribery  or  conspiracy,  altered  the  returns  ^  declar 
ing  elected  persons  not  chosen  by  the  voters,  and  had 
transmitted  their  vote  to  the  President  of  the  Senate, 
but  that  before  the  vote  was  counted  the  fraud  was 
detected  and  exposed :  was  there  no  remedy  ?  " 

Again  the  same  answer,  ' '  No  !  whatever  fraud  there 


274  A  WRONG  FOR  WHICH  THERE  WAS  NO  REMEDY. 

may  have  been  must  be  discovered  and  protested  against 
before  the  Boards  made  their  returns  "  [an  impossibility 
when  the  Boards  were  themselves  the  conspirators  to 
defraud  !  ]  ;  to  which  the  Judge  answered  : 

"  If  this  be  sound  doctrine,  it  is  the  only  instance  in 
the  world  where  fraud  becomes  enshrined  and  sanctified 
behind  a  certificate  of  its  authors.  It  is  elementary 
knowledge  that  fraud  vitiates  all  proceedings,  even  the 
most  solemn  ;  that  no  form  of  words,  no  amount  of 
ceremony,  and  no  solemnity  of  procedure,  can  shield  it 
from  exposure  or  punishment." 

Once  more  he  put  the  question  in  this  form  : 

"  Suppose  the  canvassers  were  coerced  by  force;  by 
men  putting  pistols  at  their  heads,  and  threatening  to 
blow  out  their  brains  if  they  did  not  perjure  themselves, 
and  swear  to  a  lie  :  was  there  no  remedy  ?  " 

Again  "  No  !  No  !  "  an  answer  which  not  only  con 
doned  clerical  errors  and  mistakes,  but  in  giving  the 
highest  reward  to  perjury,  held  out  a  bribe  to  every 
degree  of  villainy  and  crime  ! 

"But,"  said  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Republicans, 
"if  you  had  the  trump  card,  wouldn't  you  play  it  ?" 
"the  trump  card"  being  the  perjured  returns  !  This 
was  a  taunt  worthy  of  the  gamblers  of  Monte  Carlo, 
but  hardly  to  be  thrown  in  the  face  of  the  august 
Electoral  Commission  !  But  weak  and  wicked  as  it 
was,  it  prevailed  before  that  great  Tribunal  when  they 
disclaimed  all  power  to  discriminate  between  lawful 


MR.    HAYES   INAUGURATED.  275 

votes  and  returns  that  they  knew,  or  might  know,  to 
be  fraudulent,  and  thus  enthroned  in  the  place  of  power 
one  who  had  not  been  elected  by  the  American  people  ! 
So  the  deed  was  done,  and  on  the  4th  of  March,  1877, 
Mr.  Hayes  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United 
States  !  His  administration  was  in  some  respects  a 
marked  improvement  on  that  of  his  predecessor,  who, 
being  a  soldier,  naturally  leaned  upon  the  army  for  sup 
port,  and  kept  large  garrisons  in  the  Southern  cities,  as 
if  they  were  conquered  provinces.  To  withdraw  these 
was  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  administration — 
a  step  taken  by  the  advice  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Mr.  Evarts  ;  while  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr. 
John  Sherman,  by  a  wise  financial  policy,  restored  the 
public  credit,  resumed  specie  payments,  and  began  to 
pay  off  the  enormous  debt  incurred  by  the  war  at  the 
rate  of  a  hundred  millions  a  year  !  In  all  these  signs 
of  returning  prosperity  no  one  rejoiced  more  than  Mr. 
Field.  But  even  this  might  be  too  dearly  paid  for  by 
the  sacrifice  of  the  national  honor.  As  he  looked  over 
the  country,  and  saw  the  cities  alive  with  the  activity  of 
business,  and  the  fields  waving  with  abundance,  there 
was  one  blight  on  the  smiling  landscape — that  we  were 
under  a  government,  or  at  least  an  administration,  that 
had  no  right  to  exist  ;  that  there  was  in  the  chair  of 
President  one  who  was  not  placed  there  by  the  people's 
will.  As  to  personal  qualifications  half  the  country 
might  prefer  Mr.  Hayes  to  Mr.  Tilden.  But  that  had 


276   NO   PROSPERITY   CAN   BLOT   OUT   THE   WRONG. 

nothing  to  do  with  the  case.  The  question  was  not 
which  was  the  better  man,  but  ivhom  did  the  people 
elect  9  He  was  the  Lord's  anointed,  and  no  one 
else  could  take  the  crown  without  sacrilege.  The 
assumption  of  authority  by  another  was  as  flagrant  an 
usurpation  as  if  General  Grant  had  surrounded  the 
Capitol  with  troops,  and  declared  that  he  would  hold 
possession.  The  right  of  the  people  to  choose  their  own 
rulers  was  the  highest  token  of  sovereignty,  and  it  had 
never  been  disputed.  The  country  had  just  celebrated 
the  centenary  of  its  independence,  and  in  all  that  hun 
dred  years  there  was  never  a  question  of  right  to  the 
succession.  Were  we  to  begin  now,  and  follow  after 
the  South  American  republics,  where  power  can  be 
grasped  by  any  pretender,  if  he  has  the  army  behind 
him  ?  So  reasoned  Mr.  Field,  in  whose  view  this  seizure 
of  the  Presidency  was  the  greatest  of  crimes  ;  even 
though  the  country,  with  its  immense  vitality,  might 
survive  the  shock,  and  still  flourish  under  it,  or  in  spite 
of  it.  No  glittering  prosperity  could  ever  blot  out  the 
memory  of  this  stupendous  wrong. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

JOY  AND   SORROW.     THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  SON.     VISIT 
TO    HIS    DAUGHTER   IN   JAMAICA. 

Even  the  most  intrepid  traveller  is  not  likely  to  make 
more  than  one  grand  tour  around  the  world.  Mr.  Field 
had  gone  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  see  his  child,  and 
now  it  seemed  as  if  the  ends  of  the  earth  were  coming 
to  him,  when,  in  the  regular  course  of  promotion  in  the 
English  service,  Sir  Anthony  Musgrave,  after  five  years 
in  South  Australia,  was  transferred  in  1877  to  the  island 
of  Jamaica,  of  which  he  was  Governor  for  five  years. 
This  was  within  a  week's  sail  from  New  York,  and 
brought  those  dearest  to  the  father  and  grandfather 
very  near  home.  As  he  sat  alone  on  the  night  of 
February  12th,  1878,  he  wrote:  "The  last  hours  of 
seventy- two  years  are  nearly  run  out.  I  have  had  in 
the  main  a  happy  and  a  prosperous  year.  My  vigor, 
bodily  and  mental,  is  unimpaired.  The  great  event 
of  the  past  year  in  my  domestic  life  has  been  the 
visit  of  my  daughter,  son-in-law,  and  grandchildren, 
which  gave  me  unspeakable  happiness  "  ;  to  which  he 
adds,  as  if  it  were  from  the  overflow  of  a  heart  too  full 


278  MIDNIGHT   REFLECTIONS. 

to  be  restrained,  that  he  had  decided  to  build  a  church 
tower  in  Stockbridge,  with  a  peal  of  bells,  in  the  name 
of  his  grandchildren,  living  and  dead,  to  be  called  the 
Children's  Chimes.  "It  will  be  a  memorial  of  those 
who  are  enshrined  in  my  heart,  while  the  ringing  of 
the  chimes  at  sunset  I  trust  will  give  pleasure  to  all 
whose  good  fortune  it  is  to  live  in  this  peaceful  valley." 
The  generous  purpose  was  carried  out  that  very  year. 
The  modest  campanile  was  erected  on  the  green  in  front 
of  the  church,  and  bears  an  inscription  which  teUs  us  that 

THIS  MEMORIAL  TOWER 

MARKS  THE  SPOT  WHERE  STOOD 

THE  LITTLE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS 

IN  WHICH  JOHN  SERGEANT 

PREACHED  TO  THE  STOCKBRIDGE  INDIANS 

IN  1739. 

But  Sergeant  was  not  the  only  missionary  in  the  wil 
derness.  In  his  footsteps  came  Jonathan  Edwards, 
who,  though  he  was  the  philosopher  of  his  age,  preached 
not  only  to  the  handful  of  white  settlers,  but,  by  an 
interpreter,  to  the  Indians,  till  in  1758  he  was  called  to 
be  President  of  the  College  at  Princeton,  where  he  died  ; 
after  whom  Stephen  West  was  the  pastor  for  sixty  years. 
The  associations  of  three  such  saintly  men  may  well 
make  the  place  holy  ground. 

The  autumn  of  that  year  (1878)  brought  Mr.  Field's 
usual  pilgrimage  abroad,  where  he  spent  his  time  chiefly 
on  the  Continent,  going  directly  from  Liverpool  to 
Frankfort-on-the-Main  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Inter- 


A   FEW   WEEKS   ABROAD.  279 

national  Association,  which  was  made  delightful  by  the 
hospitality  of  the  warm-hearted  Germans,  who  gave 
them  a  public  dinner  and  an  excursion  to  Homburg, 
courtesies  which  certainly  contributed  to  the  cause  of 
peace  and  good  will. 

After  the  meeting  he  went  on  to  Munich,  and  thence 
through  Augsburg,  Ulm,  Stuttgart  and  Carlsbad  to 
Strasburg  and  Metz,  from  which  he  visited  the  field  of 
Gravelotte,  where  (as  he  thought)  the  French  ought 
to  have  been  victorious,  and  apparently  would  have 
been  but  for  the  incompetence  of  Bazaine.  From  Metz 
he  went  to  Luxemburg,  and  drove  about  the  town, 
through  the  park  built  on  the  site  of  the  old  fortifica 
tions  and  along  the  deep  ravines,  which  form  a  moat 
round  the  beautiful  city.  If  this  did  not  rouse  in  him 
the  war  spirit,  it  did  the  historical  spirit,  and  so  he  must 
needs  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Sedan,  and  go  over  the 
battle  field,  and  visit  the  house  where  Napoleon  the  Third 
surrendered  to  King  William  of  Prussia  !  From  these 
warlike  memories  he  came  to  Paris  on  a  more  peaceful 
errand,  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Institute  of  Inter 
national  Law,  where  he  met  an  old  friend,  Mr.  Groes- 
beck,  of  Cincinnati,  and  the  representatives,  not  only 
of  different  countries  of  Europe,  but  also  of  Asia,  in  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese  Ministers.  One  evening  that  he 
dined  with  the  former,  it  was  amusing  to  observe  the 
diversity  of  languages.  Neither  of  these  Ministers 
spoke  any  language  but  his  own,  but  each  had  a  secre- 


280  VISIT   OF   DEAN   STANLEY. 

tary  who  could  speak  French,  so  that  when  the  Chinese 
Minister  gave  a  toast,  his  secretary  translated  it  into 
French  to  the  Japanese  secretary,  who  translated  it 
into  Japanese  to  the  Japanese  Minister  !  It  was  well 
that  the  sentiment  that  was  to  pass  through  three  lan 
guages  was  one  of  peace  and  prosperity  to  all. 

These  visits  to  Europe  were  not  unf  requently  returned 
in  America.  The  same  autumn  Dean  Stanley  crossed 
the  sea,  accompanied  by  his  friend  Mr.  (now  Sir) 
George  Grove  and  Dr.  Harper,  who  were  all  guests 
of  Mr.  Cyrus  Field  in  New  York  and  at  his  place 
on  the  Hudson.  Then,  wishing  to  show  them  a  little 
of  the  scenery  of  New  England,  he  brought  them  up  to 
the  Berkshire  Hills,  and  after  taking  them  to  Williams 
College,  came  with  them  to  Stockbridge,  where  they 
were  for  several  days  the  guests  of  our  oldest  brother. 
It  was  delightful  to  see  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Dean  as 
he  looked  down  from  the  hill  top  into  the  valley,  through 
which  the  Housatonic  winds  its  way,  and  exclaimed 
in  surprise,  '  *  Why  did  you  not  tell  me  of  all  this  ?  " 
As  we  drove  him  to  Lenox,  the  Stockbridge  Bowl, 
set  in  the  bosom  of  the  hills,  reminded  him  of  the  lake 
scenery  of  England.  On  Sunday  he  preached  in  the 
Episcopal  church,  and  (recalling  the  historical  associa 
tions  which  he  had  learned  only  the  previous  day,  how 
Ephraim  Williams  of  Stockbridge,  as  he  was  to  go  out 
to  the  field  in  the  old  French  war,  made  the  bequest  that 
was  the  foundation  of  the  College  which  bears  his  name,) 


IN   THE   PULPIT   AND   BY   THE   FIRESIDE.  281 

thus  alluded  to  the  young  hero  who  had  fallen  in  battle 
a  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  before  :  "Had  the 
forefathers  of  this  great  nation  not  struggled  to  reclaim 
the  wilderness,  and  convert  the  savage,  and  build  up 
the  Church  of  God  by  river  and  by  forest ;  had  there 
not  been  men  like  the  gallant  soldiers  who  guarded  these 
frontiers,  to  catch,  in  the  intervals  of  war  and  blood 
shed,  visions  of  a  happy  and  peaceful  future,  and  lay 
the  foundations  on  which  learning  and  religion  might 
freely  flourish  and  abound — this  nation  would  never 
have  been  born,  this  empire  would  never  have  arisen." 
From  the  church  he  came  to  our  cottage  on  the  hill 
and  spent  the  afternoon.  My  brother  had  told  me  that 
his  delight  was,  not  to  see  our  cities,  so  much  as  the 
interior  of  American  homes.  I  can  see  him  now  as  he 
sat  upon  a  low  chair  before  the  open  fire,  (for  which 
there  was  an  excuse  in  a  touch  of  frostiness  in  the 
October  air,)  more  interested  to  ask  questions  about 
the  country  and  its  local  history,  than  to  speak  of  aught 
which  concerned  himself  or  England.  When  at  last  we 
walked  across  the  lawn  as  the  sun  was  going  down  in 
the  West,  his  gentle  face  seemed  to  reflect  the  peace  and 
calm  of  the  day,  as  he  said,  ' '  I  would  not  have  missed 
this  for  anything."  In  return  for  our  little  courtesy 
he  hoped  to  welcome  us  to  Westminster  Abbey,  where 
he  could  have  the  pleasure  of  going  with  us  over  the 
ancient  pile,  pointing  out  the  historic  names  of  many 
generations  ;  but  alas  !  before  we  crossed  the  sea  again, 


282  A   YEAR   MARKED    WITH   A    CROSS. 

he  too  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  shadow  of  tlie  great  Abbey 
which  he  had  done  so  much  to  make  known  to  the  world. 

Thus  in  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death,  a  warn 
ing  that  was  soon  to  come  home  to  vs  nearer  still. 

The  year  1880  should  be  marked  with  a  cross,  in 
token  of  a  great  sorrow,  the  death  of  Mr.  Field's  only 
son,  which  came  without  a  warning.  It  was  midsum 
mer,  and  the  city  was  deserted,  as  all  who  could  get 
away  had  fled  to  the  seashore  or  the  mountains.  Our 
family  was  divided  in  its  country  homes,  Cyrus  having 
a  place  at  Dobbs  Ferry,  and  ' '  Young  Dudley  "  (as  we 
sometimes  called  him  to  distinguish  him  from  his  father) 
at  Hastings — both  on  the  Hudson.  But  wherever  we 
were,  Stockbridge  was  the  paternal  home,  where  our 
father  and  mother  had  lived  and  died,  and  were  buried, 
and  where  the  eldest  and  the  youngest  of  the  brothers 
spent  their  summers,  and  here  we  had  planned  our 
family  meeting.  Mr.  Field,  who  was  at  the  moment  at 
Long  Branch,  was  to  come  up  to  welcome  his  brother  the 
Justice  and  his  wife  from  Washington.  His  daughter- 
in-law  had  come  in  advance,  while  his  son,  who  was 
very  fond  of  coaching,  would  drive  four-in-hand  across 
the  country.  A  more  beautiful  excursion  could  hardly 
be  found  in  Old  England  itself  than  that  from  the  Hud 
son  to  the  Housatonic.  It  is  all  hill  and  valley,  with 
roads  winding  hither  and  thither  through  the  woods  or 
along  the  course  of  streams,  and  when  he  took  his  seat  on 
the  box,  with  no  companion  but  the  faithful  "  Michael," 


A   FAMILY    GATHERING.  283 

and  cracked  his  whip,  they  started  at  full  speed,  and 
went  up  hill  and  down  dale.  Not  the  slightest  incident 
marred  the  delight  of  the  journey,  till,  as  the  sun  was 
setting  over  the  Western  hills,  he  drove  up  to  his  father's 
door.  Here  were  all  the  conditions  of  a  delightful  fam 
ily  union,  when  in  a  few  hours  all  was  changed.  After 
the  long  drive  of  the  day  he  slept  soundly,  but  woke  in 
the  morning  and  spoke  to  his  attendant  in  his  usual 
cheerful  tone,  when  suddenly  the  heart  stopped  beating, 
the  golden  bowl  was  broken,  and  life  came  to  an  end. 
It  was  but  a  few  minutes  before  we,  who  were  near 
neighbors,  were  on  the  spot.  But  one  glance  at  the 
marble  face  was  enough,  and  all  that  could  be  done 
was  to  soothe  the  distracted  wife.  A  message  was  sent 
immediately  to  his  uncle  Cyrus  to  be  communicated  to 
his  father,  and  the  next  morning  brought  both  to  the 
home  that  was  now  turned  into  a  house  of  mourning. 
On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  August  10,  1880, 
The  Evening  Post  announced  the  sad  event : 

"Mr.  Dudley  Field,  the  only  son  and  the  partner  of  the  emi 
nent  lawyer  David  Dudley  Field,  died  suddenly  this  morning. 
He  left  Hastings-on-the-Hudson  last  Friday  morning  to  drive 
to  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  and  was  at  that  time  in  excellent  health. 
He  had  made  arrangements  to  meet  all  his  uncles  at  Stockbridge 
this  week,  and  Judge  Field  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Field  had  already 
joined  him  and  were  with  him  at  six  o'clock  this  morning,  when 
he  died  very  suddenly  of  disease  of  the  heart. 

"Mr.  Field  was  forty-nine  years  old,  and  was  very  well  known 
in  this  city  both  as  counsel  and  advocate,  although  his  prof es- 


284  DEATH   IN   THE   MIDST   OF  LIFE. 

sional  reputation  was  necessarily  overshadowed  by  that  of  his 
father.  He  was  very  popular  in  the  profession,  being  a  man  of 
pleasing  address  and  genial  temperament,  and  his  death  will 
be  sincerely  mourned  by  a  very  large  circle  of  acquaintances." 

The  shock  was  all  the  greater  because  it  was  wholly 
unexpected.  It  was  the  sudden  close  of  a  life  that  was 
still  in  the  prime  of  vigorous  manhood,  and  that  prom 
ised  so  much.  From  his  very  boyhood  he  seemed  to 
have  every  gift  of  fortune.  From  College  he  went 
abroad,  and  spent  a  year  in  Europe  and  the  East.  But 
the  greatest  of  his  opportunities  was  to  sit  at  the  feet 
of  a  master  of  the  law,  and  to  enter  upon  practice  with 
the  prestige  of  his  father's  name.  Thus  the  world  had 
opened  all  its  gates  to  him  for  a  brilliant  career.  On 
such  a  prospect  the  curtain  now  fell. 

It  was  a  sad  day  when  the  old  home,  known  for  its 
hospitality,  saw  a  gathering  for  another  purpose,  indi 
cated  by  the  flag  at  half-mast.  A  note  in  his  father's 
diary  gives  the  incidents  of  the  last  farewell  : 

"  August  12.  To-day  my  son  was  buried.  The  sky  was  low 
ering,  but  there  was  no  rain.  The  funeral  services  were  very 
simple.  At  five  o'clock  our  nearest  friends  came  to  the  house, 
where  a  prayer  was  said  and  a  few  verses  of  Scripture  read,  and 
then  the  carriages  wound  slowly  down  the  hill,  following  the 
remains  to  the  Episcopal  church,  where  the  full  service  was 
read,  the  anthem  chanted  and  the  hymn  '  Abide  with  me '  sung. 
Then  the  body  was  borne  to  the  grave  by  the  workmen  in  my 
service,  assisted  by  a  few  others,  the  pall-bearers,  relatives  and 
assemblage  following  on  foot.  At  the  grave  the  coffin,  covered 


DUST    TO  DUST.  285 

with  flowers,  was  placed  in  a  cedar  cover,  and  the  whole  lowered 
into  a  vault  made  of  brick  at  the  bottom  and  sides,  and  covered 
with  heavy  slabs  of  marble.  On  the  turf  which  covered  the 
ground  I  placed  an  anchor  of  flowers  at  the  foot,  and  a  broken 
shaft  of  flowers  at  the  head.  Mournful  chimes  were  then  played 
a  few  minutes,  and  we  left  the  grave  and  the  cemetery.  By 
this  time  the  moon,  half  full,  had  taken  the  sun's  place,  and  a 
soft  light  shone  upon  us  as  we  returned  to  our  home.  I  could 
but  think  that  it  was  a  merciful  providence  which  had  brought 
my  son  to  die  under  his  father's  roof,  and  to  be  borne  to  his  last 
resting-place  by  his  father's  servants." 

So  ended  a  career  whose  possibilities  seemed  but  half 
fulfilled  when  he  was  cut  down  in  the  midst  of  his  days. 
But  if  the  brilliant  promise  of  his  early  life  fades  in 
the  distance,  we  cannot  forget  the  warmth  of  a  heart 
that  never  grew  cold.  He  had  a  great  love  of  children, 
and  the  early  death  of  his  only  child  was  a  blow  from 
which  he  never  recovered.  Perhaps  none  have  a  better 
opportunity  to  know  the  heart  of  a  young  man  than 
his  classmates  in  College.  Living  in  daily  intercourse, 
they  know  one  another  more  intimately  and  more  truly 
than  in  the  great  outside  world.  And  therefore  it  has 
been  so  grateful  to  us  to  hear  those  who  knew  him  then 
tell  us  that  there  was  no  one  to  whom  they  could  go 
more  freely  for  any  act  of  kindness  ;  and  that  all  felt 
that  they  had  lost  a  friend  when  they  heard  that  he  had 
gone  to  the  grave.  They  will  keep  his  memory  green.* 


*  In  1883  his  father  placed  a  memorial  window  of  his  only  son 
in  St.  Paul's  Church  in  Stockbridge,  and  one  also  in  the  hall  of 
the  Kappa  Alpha  Society  in  Williamstown. 


286  VISIT   TO   JAMAICA. 

A  heavy  heart  is  not  made  light  by  a  change  of 
place.  But  it  is  a  relief  to  the  burden  of  sorrow  to  turn 
from  dwelling  only  on  one  who  is  "loved  and  lost"  to 
another  not  less  dear  who  still  remains.  So  long  as  there 
is  yet  one  to  love,  a  stricken  father  is  not  quite  desolate, 
mourning  as  one  who  will  not  be  comforted.  To  find 
such  a  change  of  scene  and  association  Mr.  Field  left 
New  York  at  the  close  of  autumn  for  Jamaica,  of  which 
Sir  Anthony  Musgrave  was  the  colonial  governor.  A 
few  notes  from  his  diary  will  keep  track  of  the  voyage 
and  the  visit  : 

"November  25,  1880.  Started  in  the  ship  Atlas,  bound  to 
Jamaica,  on  a  visit  to  my  daughter  and  her  family.  A  snow 
storm  had  come  in  the  night,  and  the  streets,  the  ship  and  the 
shores  of  the  bay  were  all  white  as  we  steamed  out  to  sea.  It 
was  very  cold,  and  I  had  to  wrap  myself  in  my  warmest.  But 
the  sea  was  not  ruffled,  the  snow  and  rain  had  ceased,  and  the 
night  was  fine.  After  a  day  or  two  the  repose  of  the  voyage 
gave  me  relief  from  the  constant  strain  of  work,  with  the  added 
burden  of  so  much  sorrow.  When  I  came  on  board  I  was  nearly 
worn  out ;  but  the  quiet  of  the  ship,  the  absence  of  care,  and 
the  softly  murmuring  sea  soothed  my  nerves.  Nobody  impor 
tuned  me,  nobody  called  me.  I  was  alone  with  myself,  with  a 
small  ship's  company,  and  with  nature,  the  sea,  the  winds,  the 
clouds  and  the  stars. 

"November  28.  Dudley's  birthday.  As  I  sat  upon  the  deck 
all  the  morning,  I  thought  of  the  bright  day  when  he  was  born, 
in  a  front  chamber  on  Murray  Street,  looking  out  upon  the 
green  of  Columbia  College,  and  a  canary  singing  in  his  cage 
over  the  coming  of  the  child.  I  ran  along  the  years  of  his  life 


THE   RESTFUL   SEA.  287 

till  he  died.  How  my  heart  was  bound  up  in  him  !  Then  I 
thought  of  what  was  left  to  me  in  my  daughter  and  her  chil 
dren,  to  whom  I  am  going. " 

As  they  were  sailing  Southward,  each  day  brought 
a  milder  climate,  and  all  the  passengers  were  on  deck, 
enjoying  the  softer  air,  while  he  was  for  the  most  part 
sitting  in  his  sea-chair  with  a  book.  He  had  taken  with 
him  the  recently  published  "History  of  Our  Times," 
by  his  old  friend  Justin  McCarthy,  and  very  interesting 
he  found  it.  It  set  him  to  thinking  whether  government 
was  really  made  much  better  by  the  long  discussions  in 
Parliament  or  in  Congress,  apropos  of  which  he  recalled 
an  observation  of  Lord  Normanby,  whom  he  had  met 
six  years  before  in  Queensland,  that  in  all  his  life  in 
Parliament  he  had  never  heard  but  two  speeches  that 
changed  the  vote  in  the  House  of  Commons  :  one  was 
a  speech  of  Lord  Palmerston  on  the  famous  Don  Pacifico 
case  ;  and  the  other  a  speech  of  Macaulay  on  the  exclu 
sion  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  from  the  privilege  of 
sitting  in  Parliament.  So  difficult  was  it  to  move  the 
government.  Sir  Rowland  Hill  told  him  of  his  expe 
rience  in  getting  his  plan  of  cheap  postage  introduced. 
He  argued  and  argued,  but  made  little  impression  till 
one  day  the  Duke  of  Wellington  sent  for  him  to  explain 
it,  and  getting  interested,  told  him  he  would  take  it  up. 
As  the  Iron  Duke  could  speak  in  a  tone  of  command, 
soon  everybody  discovered  that  cheap  postage  was  one 


288  THE  ISLAND   OF  JAMAICA. 

of  the  greatest  blessings  ever  bestowed  upon  the  people 
of  England  ! 

"November  30.  The  last  day  of  autumn.  About  nine  last 
evening  we  passed  Wattings  Island,  1,000  unles  due  south  from 
New  York  and  470  from  Kingston,  and  Bird  Island  at  four  this 
morning,  and  at  six  stopped  at  Fortune  Island  and  took  on  board 
negro  workmen  for  service  on  the  ship  and  in  port  till  her 
return.  From  this  we  passed  Castle  Island  and  then  struck  out 
straight  for  Cape  Maysi,  the  eastern  end  of  Cuba. 

' '  December  2.  Kingston.  We  anchored  off  the  harbor  in 
the  night,  and  steamed  up  to  town  by  seven  o'clock  this  morn 
ing.  'The  Governor's  carriage  was  waiting  for  me,  and  I  was 
driven  to  King's  House,  where  I  found  myself  at  eight  o'clock 
surrounded  by  my  daughter  and  her  husband  and  their  children. 

' '  December  6.  At  three  in  the  afternoon  we  left  King's  House 
in  a  landau  and  drove  five  miles  to  Gordon-Town,  at  the  foot  of 
the  Port  Royal  Mountain.  There  taking  the  horses,  which  had 
been  sent  on  before,  we  followed  a  bridle-path,  said  to  have  been 
laid  out  by, the  Spaniards,  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  when  we  drew 
up  before  a  low  cottage,  4,000  feet  above  the  sea.  This  is  Flam- 
stead,  where  Jeanie  and  her  family  have  passed  three  summers. 
It  is  said  to  be  eighty  years  old,  and  is  embowered  in  flowers 
and  vines.  Kingston,  city  and  harbor,  is  at  our  feet,  and  the 
highest  range  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  8,000  feet,  fills  the  horizon 
to  the  north  and  east.  When  Columbus  was  asked  by  Isabella 
what  Jamaica  looked  like,  he  crumpled  a  sheet  of  paper,  and 
then  opening  it  half  way,  said  that  the  surface  was  like  that ! 
It  was  a  good  illustration.  I  never  saw  a  mass  of  mountains 
of  so  many  shapes  and  so  sharply  cut.  The  thermometer  now, 
at  eleven  o'clock,  stands  at  71,  and  a  gentle  breeze  stirs  the 
foliage  about  me  as  I  write.  Church,  the  artist,  resided  for  a 
while  in  these  hills,  at  a  cottage  a  mile  or  so  to  the  southeast 


THE   MOUNTAIN   SCENERY.  289 

of  Flamstead,  and  he  thinks  the  climate  the  best  he  has  ever 
known.  The  quiet  is  complete  ;  there  is  no  neighbor  within 
fifteen  minutes'  walk. 

"December  8.  Yesterday  at  three  P.  M.  we  had  a  shower  of 
rain,  lasting  half  an  hour.  When  it  ceased,  we  started  on  a 
ride  among  the  mountains — Jeanie,  Anthony,  an  orderly,  a  ser 
vant  on  foot  and  myself,  in  single  file,  along  steep  mountains 
and  among  stunted  trees.  We  passed  the  spot  where  Jeanie 
was  thrown  over  the  hillside  from  a  runaway  horse.  It  is  a 
frightful  place,  and  it  was  a  miracle  that  she  was  not  killed. 
Our  path  lay  along  Mount  Elizabeth,  to  the  southern  end.  The 
views  were  grand.  We  did  little  more,  than  walk  our  horses, 
now  and  then  starting  into  a  gentle  trot.  Coming  down  from 
the  mountain  one  day,  we  saw  a  phenomenon  I  had  never  seen 
before.  It  had  been  raining,  and  instead  of  a  rainbow  there  was 
a  circle,  an  aureole,  around  the  head  of  each  of  the  riders  as  he 
rode,  mirrored  in  the  mist  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  ravine. 

"December  20.  Yesterday  afternoon  at  five  I  went  with 
the  Governor  to  the  camp  of  the  West- Indies  Regiment  to  hear 
the  band.  The  musicians  were  all  black  except  the  leader.  The 
privates  of  the  regiment  are  black,  but  the  officers  are  white. 
I  am  told  that  there  is  not  a  black  officer,  high  or  low,  in  the 
British  Army. 

"December  28.  In  the  afternoon  the  Governor,  Mr.  Baden 
Powell  and  myself,  made  a  visit  to  the  Commodore  at  Port  Royal. 
We  were  taken  over  to  the  tomb  of  a  person  who  was  swallowed 
up  in  the  great  earthquake,  thrown  out  again,  and  lived  after 
ward  thirty  years  ! 

' '  In  Jamaica  I  learned  two  lessons.  One  was  how  completely 
one  phase  of  life  and  occupancy  could  be  blotted  out  by  another. 
We  are  apt  to  think  with  amazement  of  the  changes  in  Europe 
which  the  Northern  barbarians  effected  when  they  came  down 


290          ONE   RACE   BLOTTED   OUT   BY   ANOTHER. 

upon  the  Roman  Empire.  The  example  of  Jamaica  explains  it 
fully.  The  Spaniards  colonized  the  island  and  inhabited  it  for 
two  hundred  years,  until  it  was  taken  from  them  by  the  Eng 
lish.  There  is  not  now,  however,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  a  ves 
tige  of  Spanish  rule  remaining,  except  the  broken  walls  of  a 
convent  on  the  north  side  of  the  island  ;  the  names  of  three  or 
four  small  streams  emptying  into  the  sea,  also  on  that  side  ;  and 
the  corruption  of  a  name  constantly  used  on  the  south  side. 
Near  Kingston  is  a  small  river  which  rushes  rapidly  through  a 
ledge  of  rocks.  This  is  now  called  '  Bog  Walk,'  a  corruption, 
no  doubt,  of  Boca  d'  Agua. 

"The  other  lesson  was  the  impossibility  of  either  a  social  or 
political  admixture  of  the  Aryan  and  the  Negro  races.  The 
population  of  Jamaica  is  roughly  estimated  at  500,000,  of  whom 
50,000  are  whites,  100,000  browns,  and  the  rest  blacks.  The 
negroes  live  in  comfortable  huts,  and  the  green  lanes  of  their 
villages  are  often  charming.  On  market  days  there  are  crowds 
of  men  and  women  buying  and  selling.  The  white  dresses  and 
the  headgear  of  the  women  make  a  picturesque  scene.  But  in 
spite  of  all  this,  and  though  they  are  as  free  as  the  whites,  and 
have  been  so  for  seventy  years,  there  is  no  mingling  of  the  races. 
The  browns  hold  themselves  aloof  from  the  negroes,  and  the 
whites  from  both." 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  Jamaica  to  the  Alps,  and  yet 
there  was  Mr.  Field  in  the  following  autumn.  On  the 
last  day  of  summer  he  left  St.  Moritz  at  seven  o'clock, 
drove  up  the  Engadine  to  the  Malaya  Pass,  and  descended 
by  a  very  long  and  steep  zigzag  to  the  valley,  a  road 
that  is  wonderful  for  its  scenery.  At  Casteregno  he 
passed  the  boundary  between  Switzerland  and  Italy. 
Here  the  chestnut  trees  begin  to  cover  the  sides  of  the 


ON   LAKE   COMO.  291 

valley.  Having  taken  the  extra  post,  he  travelled  rap 
idly  to  Lake  Como,  where  a  steamer  was  waiting,  and 
at  six  o'clock  he  was  in  the  Grand  Hotel  at  Bellagio. 
A  day  or  two  after  he  had  one  of  the  surprises  that 
make  the  delight  of  travel  : 

' '  September  2.  At  the  wharf  this  morning,  as  I  was  about 
to  go  on  the  steamer  for  Como,  I  met  my  brother  Stephen  and 
his  wife,  who  had  been  at  the  Hotel  Grande  Bretagne  all  day 
yesterday,  neither  of  us  knowing  that  the  other  was  at  Bellagio. 
We  went  together  to  Como,  and  there  I  left  them  at  the  station 
to  go  on  to  Milan,  where  I  am  to  meet  them  on  Monday.  Around 
the  lake  the  houses,  gardens,  boat-houses,  fountains,  winding 
walks,  and  the  dark  green  foliage,  with  the  variety  of  trees, 
shrubs  and  vines,  make  scenes  of  indescribable  beauty.  The 
charm  of  the  Italian  lakes  lies  in  the  grandeur  of  the  mountains 
that  surround  them,  the  frequency  of  bays  and  inlets,  the  wind 
ings  of  the  lakes,  and  the  softness  of  the  climate,  not  to  mention 
the  numberless  villas  which  in  the  course  of  generations  have 
been  built  upon  the  shores. 

"September  5.  Milan.  The  town  is  full  of  visitors  to  the 
Italian  Exposition.  I  have  visited  it  with  great  interest,  con 
sidering  what  advances  Italy  has  made  since  her  unity  has  been 
established.  Of  all  the  European  nations,  she  is  to  me  the  most 
interesting,  from  the  progress  she  has  made  since  she  was  freed 
from  the  rule  of  Austria,  Naples  and  the  Pope,  and  of  the  petty 
sovereigns  who  divided  and  enslaved  her,  and  has  become  one 
united  kingdom  from  the  Alps  to  the  Adriatic.  Milan  is  a  bright 
and  cheerful  city.  The  people  are  better  looking  than  the 
French  or  Swiss  ;  the  profiles  and  bearing  of  both  men  and 
women  are  finer. 

"September  22.     Went  to  Mentone,  where  the  house  of  most 


292  MONTE   CARLO. 

interest  to  me  was  the  Pension  Anglo- Americana,  in  which  my 
grandchildren  stayed  in  1879.  Arrived  at  Monte  Carlo  at  five 
and  took  lodgings  for  the  night  at  the  Hotel  de  Paris,  opposite 
the  Casino.  The  day  was  wintry  and  the  breakers  dashed  hard 
against  the  shore.  The  road  was  either  alongside  the  breakers 
or  above  them,  giving  the  most  picturesque  views  of  land  and 
sea  ;  a  succession  of  headlands  jutting  out  into  the  deep,  with 
bays  between  ;  from  which  rose  slopes  covered  with  vineyards 
and  orange-trees,  and  dotted  with  churches  and  villas,  and 
behind  all  a  glorious  background  of  mountains.  Strange  that 
all  this  beauty  and  sublimity  should  be  profaned  by  the  vices  of 
men,  but  here  at  Monte  Carlo  is  the  greatest  gambling  house  in 
Europe.  After  dinner  we  paid  a  visit  to  the  famous  (or  infamous) 
Casino,  where  we  were  required  to  present  our  cards,  and  received 
in  exchange  tickets  of  admission  to  the  Cercle  des  Etrangers. 
and  passed  into  a  large  hall,  a  sort  of  reception  room,  where  men 
and  women  were  walking  up  and  down,  and  then  into  the  gam 
bling  room,  where  were  four  tables,  three  for  roulette  and  one 
for  faro,  and  all  crowded  with  players,  among  whom  were  a 
number  of  women  !  Another  entrance  opened  into  a  reading- 
room,  furnished  with  more  papers  than  I  have  seen  together 
since  I  came  abroad.  Into  this  I  strayed,  and  was  met  with  the 
ghastly  news  of  Garfield's  death  !  I  had  no  heart  to  think  of 
anything  else,  and  came  straight  back  to  the  hotel. 

' '  Keturning  to  Paris  shortly  after,  I  attended  a  memorial  ser 
vice  for  the  martyred  President  in  the  Protestant  Church  of  the 
Oratoire.  No  death  since  that  of  Lincoln  has  created  such  a 
sensation  throughout  Europe  as  that  of  Gar  field." 

This  year  the  Social  Science  Congress  met  in  Dublin, 
which  Mr.  Field  had  not  visited  before,  and  in  his  first 
walk  round  the  town  he  "found  the  streets  as  dirty 


DUBLIN   AND   IRISH   HOSPITALITY.  293 

as  in  New  York  "  [happily  our  streets  are  better  now] , 
and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  squalid  poverty,  but  these 
unfavorable  impressions  were  soon  dispelled  by  Lord 
O'Hagan,  the  Irish  Lord  Chancellor,  who  invited  him 
to  be  his  guest  at  "  Woodlands"  and  with  true  Irish 
hospitality  gave  a  dinner  in  his  honor,  at  which  thirty 
sat  down  at  the  table,  among  whom  were  Archbishop 
McCabe  and  Mr.  W.  E.  Forster,  the  Chief  Secretary 
for  Ireland,  with  whom  he  dined  the  next  evening  at 
the  Yice-regal  Lodge  in  Phenix  Park.  Mrs.  Forster 
is  a  daughter  of  the  famous  Dr.  Arnold. 

But,  with  true  American  curiosity,  the  one  spot  in 
Dublin  that  Mr.  Field  wished  to  see  was  the  place  where 
Robert  Ernmet  was  executed,  one  of  the  saddest  trage-  .  <- 
dies  in  history,  with  which  every  American  is  familiar. 
The  pathetic  story  of  his  secret  engagement  to  the 
daughter  of  Curran,  as  told  by  Washington  Irving,* 
and  his  courage  in  the  face  of  death,  have  thrown  a 
romantic  association  over  his  name,  which  was  increased 
by  the  emigration  of  his  brother,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet, 
with  other  illustrious  exiles,  to  the  New  World,  where 
Mr.  Field  had  seen  them  in  his  early  days,  and  it  was 

*The  picture  by  Irving  in  his  "Broken  Heart"  receives  its  last 
touch  from  the  lines  of  Moore  ending : 

Oh !  make  her  a  grave  where  the  sunbeams  rest, 

When  they  promise  a  glorious  morrow ; 
They'll  shine  o'er  her  sleep,  like  a  smile  from  the  West, 
From  her  own  loved  island  of  sorrow  ! 


294  A   SUMMER  IN   ENGLAND. 

a  sad  interest  to  stand  on  the  very  spot  where  perished 
the  youthful  martyr  of  Irish  independence. 

It  had  become  such  a  habit  of  Mr.  Field  to  spend 
part  of  his  summer  vacation  abroad,  that  it  is  enough 
to  say  that  the  next  year  (1882)  he  followed  his  usual 
course,  with  only  this  change,  that,  as  the  place  of 
meeting  of  the  Association  for  the  Reform  and  Codifi 
cation  of  the  Law  of  Nations  was  in  Liverpool,  he  had 
no  necessity  to  cross  the  Channel.  Nor  was  this  a 
hardship  or  privation,  for  though  he  had  friends  in 
France,  Germany,  and  Italy,  yet  next  to  his  own  coun 
try,  there  was  no  spot  on  earth  where  he  felt  so  much 
at  home,  and  so  much  in  love  with  the  country  and  the 
people,  as  in  dear  old  England,  where  he  spent  two 
delightful  months,  returning  in  October. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  AFTERNOON  OF  LIFE.     THE  QUEEN'S  JUBILEE. 
DEATH  OF  SIR  ANTHONY  MUSGRAVE. 

The  happiest  part  of  a  man's  life  is  when  he  has 
come  to  "the  land  where  it  is  always  afternoon."  The 
struggles  of  life  are  over  ;  the  battles  fought,  the  vic 
tories  won.  Not  that  he  has  ceased  to  be  an  actor  in 
the  world's  affairs,  but  he  has  reached  a  higher  eleva 
tion,  where  he  breathes  a  serener  air.  Into  that  broad 
upland  Mr.  Field  had  now  come.  Though  he  was 
approaching  his  eightieth  year,  his  eye  was  not  dimmed, 
nor  his  natural  force  abated.  His  form  was  as  erect 
and  his  step  as  quick  and  firm  as  ever.  But  there  was 
a  little  softening  of  the  inner  man.  Old  contests,  if  not 
forgotten,  were  subdued.  The  combative  element  in 
him  was  not  quite  so  strong,  perhaps  because  the  victori 
ous  can  afford  to  be  magnanimous.  Or  was  it  rather 
that  the  sun  had  crossed  the  meridian,  and  that  life,  if 
not  quite  so  stirring  as  in  the  midday  of  battle,  was  full 
of  quiet  thoughts,  of  cheering  memories,  and  still  more 
cheering  anticipations.  With  the  years,  as  they  had 
come  and  gone,  there  had  been  a  more  general  recogni 
tion  at  home  and  abroad  of  the  immense  service  that 


296  LORD   COLERIDGE   IN   AMERICA. 

he  had  rendered  in  his  reform  of  the  law,  in  sweeping 
away  the  technicalities  of  legal  procedure,  which,  from 
once  being  sacred,  had  now  become  matters  of  ridicule 
and  contempt.  In  1883  Lord  Coleridge  made  a  visit  to 
this  country  and  was  received  everywhere  by  bench  and 
bar  with  the  respect  due  to  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of 
England.  On  the  eve  of  his  departure  New  York  did 
him  honor  in  a  great  array  of  the  legal  profession  at  the 
Academy  of  Music,  which  he  addressed  with  a  frank 
ness  that  disarmed  all  criticism.  He  did  not  assume 
to  speak  for  England,  as  he  held  a  somewhat  isolated 
position  in  the  politics  of  that  country.  ' '  I  have  never 
shrunk,"  he  said,  "from  calling  myself  a  radical,  who, 
while  greatly  admiring  Mr.  Gladstone,  find  myself  more 
heartily  in  accord  with  Mr.  Bright  than  with  any  other 
living  Englishman."  A  most  happy  introduction  this, 
which  sounded  as  if  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England 
were  almost  a  republican  !  At  any  rate  he  sympathized 
with  liberty  wherever  he  found  it,  and  saw  more  to  admire 
than  to  criticize,  and  was  more  ready  to  learn  than  to 
teach.  In  this  spirit  he  referred  to  our  systems  of  juris 
prudence,  '  *  some  of  which  he  confessed  he  had  not  been 
successful  in  mastering  " — a  gentle  suggestion  that  even 
here  there  were  a  few  things  that  might  be  improved 
in  the  administration  of  the  law  !  He  had  been  told 
that  the  English  courts  despatched  business  more  rap 
idly  than  ours,  and  ' '  he  could  not  express  the  pleasure 
he  felt  to  think  that  anything  in  England  was  done 


LAW  REFORM  IN  ENGLAND.          297 

faster  than  here — even  a  lawsuit  !  "  He  had  been  told 
also  that  the  English  judges  take  the  liberty  of  assum 
ing  the  direction  of  affairs  more  than  the  practice  of 
some  of  our  States  would  permit.  From  his  point  of 
view  he  could  not  help  thinking  that  the  English  were 
right ;  and  yet  from  our  point  of  view,  so  different 
were  the  circumstances,  that  we  might  be  right  too. 

But  better  than  all  was  the  lesson  of  England's  expe 
rience.  He  said  :  "  As  the  result  of  ten  years  of  labor 
by  a  committee  of  which  he  was  the  chairman,  the 
English  judges  had  recommended  certain  changes  in 
the  methods  of  procedure,  to  simplify  proceedings. 
It  was  high  time  that  something  was  done.  A  dis 
tinguished  practitioner  once  said  that  he  did  not  think 
the  world  or  England  would  be"  the  worse  if  every  case  in 
'  Meeson  and  Welsby '  had  been  decided  the  other  way !  " 
But  this  conservatism  was  not  confined  to  England, 
for  he  had  been  told  that  in  one  of  our  States  these  old 
methods  of  practice  shone  as  bright  as  ever  !  To  such 
worshippers  of  the  past  he  suggested  that,  ' '  as  we  had 
in  the  Yellowstone  Park  a  collection  of  the  prodigies 
and  monstrosities  of  nature,  so  the  lovers  of  these  old 
forms  should  set  up  a  park  for  quaint  pleadings,  where 
the  absque  hoes  and  surrebutters  might  be  preserved 
to  gratify  future  curiosity" — to  all  which  Mr.  Field 
listened  with  a  quiet  satisfaction  that  he  had  lived  to 
see  the  day  when  England  and  America  were  united 
in  the  work  of  Law  Reform. 


298  KEEPING   A   BIRTHDAY. 

But — to  turn  from  the  professional  to  the  personal — 
as  our  eldest  brother  was  the  head  of  the  family,  it 
was  a  part  of  our  household  traditions  to  remember  his 
birthday.  With  the  death  of  his  only  son,  and  the 
absence  of  his  only  daughter,  his  three  brothers  were 
his  nearest  kindred,  and  it  would  have  been  a  sort  of 
sacrilege — at  least  towards  our  household  gods — if  we 
had  not  all  come  together.  We  must  meet  somewhere  : 
if  it  could  not  be  in  New  York,  then  in  Washington,  in 
the  well-known  house  on  Capitol  Hill,  which  has  been 
famous  for  thirty  years  for  its  generous  hospitality. 
Here  we  met  on  his  birthday  in  1884.  Of  course  it 
added  to  our  pleasure  that  others  should  share  in  our 
admiration  for  one  so  dear  to  us,  as  when  the  Justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  came  in  a 
body  to  pay  their  respects  ;  and  at  dinner  the  govern 
ment  was  represented  by  President  Arthur  and  his 
Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  ;  Chief  Justice 
Waite,  and  Judges  Harlan,  Blatchford,  aDd  Gray ; 
Senators  Edmunds,  Bayard,  and  Gibson  ;  Mr.  Carlisle, 
Speaker  of  the  House  ;  with  Representatives  Randall, 
Tucker,  Hewitt,  and  Dorsheimer  ;  to  whom  was  added 
a  representative  from  the  Antipodes  in  Sir  Henry  Parke, 
whom  Mr.  Field  had  met  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe, 
at  Sydney,  where  he  was  Prime  Minister  of  New  South 
Wales.  With  his  large  stature  and  white  hair  he  was 
a  striking  figure,  such  as  became  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  new  empire  of  the  Southern  seas. 


VISIT   TO   HALIFAX,    NOVA   SCOTIA.  299 

The  next  birthday  (1885)  rounded  out  his  eightieth 
year,  when  his  brother  Cyrus  gave  a  reception,  at  which 
were  not  only  representatives  of  his  own  profession, 
lawyers  and  judges,  but  men  of  science  and  learning, 
Professors  in  Columbia  College  and  in  the  University 
of  New  York  ;  and  men  of  affairs,  merchants  and  bank 
ers — all  of  whom  came  together  to  do  honor  to  one  who 
had  done  as  much  as  any  man  of  his  day  to  establish 
the  foundations  of  the  Commonwealth. 

In  the  month  of  April  he  was  invited  to  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  to  make  an  address  at  the  Dalhousie 
University,  where  he  was  received  with  the  greatest 
courtesy  by  the  bench  and  the  bar.  A  number  of  the 
judges  went  to  the  station  to  meet  him  and  bid  him 
welcome.  The  Academy  of  Music  was  crowded  to  hear 
his  address  on  the  Comparative  Jurisprudence  of  the 
English-speaking  peoples.  Of  the  impression  made  by 
this  visit  I  have  heard  from  several  quarters,  but  from 
no  one  who  was  more  enthusiastic  than  the  late  Sir 
John  Thompson,  whom  I  met  at  the  Bering  Sea 
Arbitration  in  Paris,  and  again  at  Ottawa,  when  he 
was  the  Prime  Minister  of  Canada,  and  made  for  him 
self  such  a  reputation  across  the  sea  as  led  to  his 
appointment  as  one  of  the  Privy  Council,  for  which  he 
was  called  to  England  to  be  sworn  into  office,  and  had 
gone  with  the  Ministers  to  Windsor  for  that  purpose, 
where  he  died  suddenly  in  the  Castle,  to  the  great  grief 
of  the  Queen.  The  English  government  paid  an  honor 


300  THE  QUEEN'S  JUBILEE. 

to  his  memory  such  as  had  never  been  given  to  any  one 
on  this  side  of  the  ocean  except  to  George  Peabody,  in 
sending  a  ship-of-war  to  take  his  remains  to  Halifax, 
where  he  was  buried  with  all  the  funereal  pomp  of  a 
great  military  parade  with  reversed  arms  and  folded 
banners.  He  was  one  of  the  men  who  could  hardly  find 
words  to  express  his  admiration  of  David  Dudley  Field. 

The  year  1887  was  an  annus  mirdbilis,  as  it  was 
the  year  of  the  Queen's  Jubilee,  an  anticipation  of  what 
we  have  had  ten  years  later.  As  it  was  to  be  in  early 
summer,  Mr.  Field  sailed  for  England  on  the  1st  of 
June,  and  on  the  21st,  the  great  day  of  the  feast,  was 
in  his  place  in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  the  Diplomatic 
Gallery,  where  he  and  Mr.  Phelps  were  the  only  ones 
in  plain  dress,  a  stern  simplicity  which  republicans  might 
regard  as  a  distinction,  (as  it  was  for  Franklin  in  Paris,) 
in  contrast  with  the  rich  costumes  and  decorations  of 
the  European  Ambassadors.  The  scene  was  one  of  the 
greatest  brilliancy,  but  of  course  all  eyes  were  fixed 
upon  the  central  figure,  eyes  that  were  wet  with  tears, 
when  the  Queen  seemed  to  be  lost  in  the  mother,  as  she 
kissed  her  children  and  grandchildren. 

That  was  a  time  of  general  rejoicing  in  London,  a 
pleasant  episode  of  which  followed  two  days  after  in 
a  dinner  given  by  the  Association  of  Foreign  Consuls, 
in  which  forty  nations  were  represented  :  indeed  every 
nation  that  had  diplomatic  relations  with  England, 
except  China.  As  they  came  in  one  by  one,  and  their 


AN   OLD    SCOTCH    CASTLE.  301 

names  were  announced,  now  the  Consul  of  Germany, 
and  now  the  Consul  of  Brazil,  etc.,  etc.,  it  seemed  as  if 
indeed  the  ends  of  the  earth  were  coming  together,  and 
that  this  was  a  sign  and  token  of  the  time  when 

' '  The  war-drum  throbs  no  longer,  and  the  battle  flags  are  furled 
In  the  Parliament  of  man,  the  Federation  of  the  world." 

But  no  Parliament  could  keep  a  grandfather  long 
away  from  his  grandsons,  the  eldest  of  whom,  who  bore 
his  own  name,  was  at  Dartmouth,  on  board  the  train 
ing  ship  Britannia  ;  while  the  two  younger  were  in 
Scotland,  pursuing  their  studies  under  the  watchful 
care  of  Mrs.  Drummond,  a  friend  and  kinswoman  of 
Dean  Stanley.  They  lived  in  a  castle,  an  old  building 
of  irregular  shape,  once  the  scene  of  conflicts  between 
the  Highlands  and  the  Lowlands  in  their  border  feuds. 
The  grounds  were  charming,  full  of  old  trees  and  pleas 
ant  walks.  From  the  castle  Mr.  Field  drove  to  the 
school  where  were  Arthur  and  Herbert,  when  he  had 
to  confess  that  it  was  impossible  to  describe  his  emotion 
as  the  dear  boys  opened  the  door  and  rushed  into  his 
arms. 

Returning  from  Scotland,  he  had  a  few  days  to  spare, 
and  thinking  it  a  good  time  to  see  ' '  how  they  do  things 
on  this  side  of  the  sea,"  he  went  down  to  Durham 
to  attend  the  Assizes.  There  were  two  judges,  one  a 
Protestant  and  the  other  a  Catholic,  both  of  whom  went 
to  church  before  they  went  to  court.  Mr.  Field  attended 


302  THE   ENGLISH   ASSIZES. 

the  service  in  the  Cathedral,  where  he  had  a  seat  in  the 
chancel,  and  observed  the  judge,  as  he  came  in  wig  and 
gown  with  an  escort  of  the  sheriff,  chaplain  and  police 
man,  after  which  there  was  a  sermon  !  The  two  judges 
had  apartments  in  the  old  palace  of  the  bishops.  At 
eleven  o'clock  they  came  to  the  court  house  in  a  stage 
coach,  preceded  by  trumpeters.  This  was  preserving 
the  majesty  of  justice  !  Mr.  Field  went  first  to  the 
criminal  court  with  the  judge  and  sat  beside  him  all  the 
morning.  He  charged  the  grand  jury,  who  stood  in  a 
side  balcony  a  few  feet  higher  than  the  judge.  Then 
he  waited  for  them  to  act  on  the  indictments  presented, 
while  he  read  the  depositions  of  the  committing  magis 
trate.  After  half  an  hour  two  of  the  grand-jurors 
came  into  the  balcony  and  the  officer  in  charge  passed 
down  to  the  clerk  of  the  assize,  in  a  net  bag  fastened  to 
the  end  of  a  pole,  two  indictments,  and  withdrew.  The 
person  indicted  was  brought  in  and  put  on  trial.  In  one 
case  two  defendants  were  tried  for  highway  robbery  ; 
one  was  acquitted,  the  other  found  guilty  and  sentenced 
to  penal  servitude.  A  woman  was  put  on  trial  for  con 
cealing  the  birth  of  a  dead  child.  She  had  no  counsel, 
but  the  judge  was  very  lenient,  and  when  the  jury 
found  her  guilty,  with  a  strong  recommendation  to 
mercy,  he  let  her  off  with  only  a  week's  imprisonment. 
Mr.  Field  then  went  over  to  the  civil  court,  where 
Judge  Matthew  was  sitting,  and  in  the  evening  dined 
with  the  judges  at  the  Castle. 


A   GREAT   NAVAL   REVIEW.  303 

Two  old  customs  he  found  still  kept  up  at  Durham  : 
one,  for  the  judges  to  receive  on  leaving  each  a  jacobus, 
to  help  them  procure  protection  on  their  forward  jour 
ney  ;  the  other,  to  be  entertained  by  the  Dean,  where 
as  they  dine  a  hymn  is  chanted,  and  at  the  end  the 
Dean  gives  them  his  blessing  and  a  shilling  ! 

From  Durham  he  went  to  Bath,  the  great  resort  of 
English  fashion  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  still  famous 
from  its  association  with  the  distinguished  figures  of 
a  former  generation.  Here  lived  Lord  Chatham  and 
Gibbon  the  historian  ;  Fielding,  the  novelist  ;  Lady 
Huntington,  the  friend  of  Wesley  ;  Napier,  the  author 
of  the  Peninsular  War  ;  and  Walter  Savage  Landor. 

Leaving  these  memories  behind,  Mr.  Field  was  -next 
to  witness  a  demonstration  of  the  present  greatness  of 
England  in  the  naval  review  at  Portsmouth,  where  he 
was  a  guest  on  board  of  one  of  the  troop  ships  and  fol 
lowed  the  Queen's  yacht  through  the  whole  squadron, 
a  display  of  " sea-power"  such  as  the  world  never  saw 
before,  nor  since  till  ten  years  afterward  (1897),  when 
it  was  eclipsed,  but  only  by  England  herself,  and  in  the 
same  waters. 

From  the  Isle  of  Wight  he  came  back  to  London  to 
attend  the  Peace  Conference  at  Guildhall,  where  they 
were  welcomed  by  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  in  the  eve 
ning  a  great  banquet  was  given  at  the  Mansion  House, 
at  which  there  were  three  hundred  guests,  and  Mr. 
Field  had  to  respond  for  his  countrymen. 


304      DEATH  OF  SIR  ANTHONY  MUSGRAVE. 

That  summer  (of  1887)  seemed  to  be  devoted  to  fetes 
and  celebrations.  But  after  the  sunshine  come  the 
shadows  :  and  the  next  year  he  was  called  to  England 
on  a  sadder  errand.  He  was  spending  the  summer  at 
his  seaside  home  on  the  Sound.  The  9th  of  October  was 
the  birthday  of  his  daughter,  and  his  thoughts  were  fly 
ing  over  the  seas  to  her,  when  a  message  from  his  brother 
Cyrus  was  put  into  his  hand,  telling  him  that  her  hus 
band,  Sir  Anthony  Musgrave,  had  died  at  Brisbane,  the 
capital  of  Queensland,  the  day  before,  after  an  illness 
of  but  five  hours  !  The  shock  was  the  more  terrible 
in  that  it  was  wholly  unexpected.  He  was  in  the  full 
vigor  of  manhood,  and  never  more  active  or  more  use 
ful.  Brought  up  in  the  service  of  his  country,  he  was 
an  admirable  type  of  that  class  of  men  who,  trained  for 
their  high  positions,  have  done  so  much  for  the  glory 
of  England.  With  his  long  experience  in  different 
parts  of  the  world,  he  may  have  well  looked  forward 
to  many  years  of  usefulness  and  honor.  His  death  was 
therefore  a  great  public  loss.  But  the  most  agonizing 
reflection  to  Mr.  Field  was  that  his  only  child  was  a 
widow,  and  far  away  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe. 
But,  thanks  to  the  ocean  telegraph,  it  was  possible  to 
communicate  with  her,  and  with  his  message  of  sym 
pathy  went  the  assurance  that  he  would  meet  her  in 
England,  to  which  he  assumed  that  she  would  imme 
diately  return  ;  and  he  sailed  the  next  month.  He 
met  her  at  Plymouth,  which  was  her  first  port,  and 


A   QUIET    SUMMER   IN    STOCKBRIDGE.  305 

came  with  her  to  London.  After  a  week  or  two  they 
went  to  Scotland,  to  see  her  youngest  son,  Herbert.  To 
a  stricken  mother  no  sympathy  could  be  so  tender  as 
that  of  one  who  had  shared  her  great  sorrow.  He 
was  still  there  at  school  near  the  picturesque  old  castle, 
whose  occupants  were  as  venerable  as  its  ancient  walls. 

Returning  to  London,  it  was  necessary  to  make  plans 
for  the  winter.  It  was  too  late  to  return  to  America, 
and  the  winter  in  England  would  be  bleak  and  cold. 
And  so,  after  some  deliberation,  Mr.  Field  decided  to  go 
with  a  party  of  friends  to  Egypt,  where  they  spent  the 
winter,  going  up  the  Nile,  and  did  not  return  to  England 
till  the  spring,  and  reached  America  in  May. 

After  nearly  a  year's  absence  from  his  country  he 
was  glad  of  a  quiet  summer  in  Stockbridge.  Nothing 
was  so  restful  to  him  as  nature,  and  he  was  more  than 
willing  to  exchange  the  ceaseless  roar  of  London  for 
the  stillness  of  the  Berkshire  Hills.  The  last  of  June 
brought  the  day  of  Commencement  at  Williams  Col 
lege,  and  we  drove  up  through  the  county  together. 
With  the  beauty  of  the  season  were  the  associations 
of  other  days,  as  we  passed  over  the  same  old  roads, 
through  the  woods,  and  by  lake  and  stream,  that  we 
had  travelled  many  times  when  life  was  young. 

At  Williamstown  he  missed  his  life-long  friend  Mark 
Hopkins,  to  whom  it  had  been  his  sad  privilege  to  pay 
his  tribute  of  love  and  admiration  the  year  before. 
There  were  a  few  old  veterans  wandering  about  the 


306  ATTEMPT   TO   KILL   JUSTICE   FIELD. 

grounds,  as  if  looking  for  some  familiar  face  that  they 
should  see  no  more.  At  the  meeting  of  the  alumni 
Mr.  Field  was  the  most  conspicuous  figure,  and  when 
he  entered  the  dining  hall,  the  whole  company  rose  and 
greeted  him  with  cheers.  Grateful  as  all  this  was,  it 
was  a  constant  reminder  that  he  belonged  to  a  genera 
tion  that  was  rapidly  disappearing. 

The  summer  was  passing  quietly  when  there  came 
a  shock  to  us  all.  On  the  14th  of  August  the  tele 
graph  brought  the  astounding  news  that  that  very  day 
there  had  been  an  attempt  upon  the  life  of  our  brother 
Stephen  by  the  notorious  Terry,  who  had  threatened  to 
kill  him  because  of  a  decision  which  he  had  given  on 
the  bench — a  threat  which  might  have  been  treated 
with  contempt  had  it  not  been  that  he  was  a  man  of 
blood  (he  had  killed  Senator  Broderick  in  a  duel  many 
years  before),  which  led  the  government  to  detail  an 
officer  to  accompany  the  Judge  on  his  visit  to  Califor 
nia  to  hold  court — a  precaution  that  proved  to  be  very 
timely,  as  the  bully,  who  was  a  giant  in  stature,  fol 
lowed  him  from  place  to  place  to  carry  out  his  threat, 
and  finally  approached  him  at  a  table  and  struck  a  blow, 
and  raised  his  arm  for  another,  which  would  probably 
have  been  fatal,  if  the  officer  had  not  shot  him  dead  on 
the  spot  !  The  tragedy  created  great  excitement  in 
California  and  all  over  the  country.  Although  the 
issue  was  a  relief,  we  could  not  feel  that  our  brother 
was  quite  safe  till  he  had  crossed  the  Continent  and  we 
had  him  under  our  own  roof. 


JUSTICE   DAVID  J.   BREWER 

[Though  two  Presidents  of  the  United  States  had  been  assassinated,  the 
attack  on  Justice  Field  was  the  first  on  a  Justice  of  its  Supreme  Court.  Had 
he  fallen  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  he  would  have  been  succeeded  soon 
after  by  one  of  his  own  blood.  Justice  Brewer  is  the  nephew  of  Justice  Field 
and  of  David  Dudley  field,  whose  Christian  name  he  bears,  and  in  whose 
office  he  began  the  study  of  law.  and  inherited  the  courage  of  both  his 
uncles,  as  well  as  their  clear  head  and  determined  will.~\ 


to  u*  all,      On 


.(.  qivAG 


.A\>ss^,^«^ 
\><r 


BAR   ASSOCIATION   AT   CHICAGO.  307 

The  season  closed  with  more  grateful  associations. 
Mr.  Field,  in  addition  to  the  duties  imposed  upon  him 
by  his  connection  with  societies  at  home  and  abroad, 
was  also  the  President  of  the  American  Bar  Associa 
tion,  which  met  this  year  (1889)  at  Chicago.  It  was 
not  the  first  time  that  he  had  been  in  that  city  on  a 
similar  errand.  Thirty  years  before  it  had  been  his 
fortune  to  deliver  an  address  at  the  opening  of  the  Law 
School  of  the  University  of  Chicago  on  the  Magnitude 
and  Importance  of  Legal  Science.  The  present  occa 
sion  brought  together  hundreds  of  lawyers,  not  only 
from  the  West,  but  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  In 
his  opening  address  he  reviewed  the  changes  in  statute 
law  in  the  States  and  by  Congress  during  the  preced 
ing  year.  The  sessions  continued  for  three  days,  and 
were  closed,  in  the  usual  American  style,  by  a  dinner, 
at  which  he  presided  "with  a  dignity  and  grace,"  says 
one  who  was  present,  "that  gave  a  peculiar  charm 
to  the  occasion."  It  was  a  lesson  in  courage,  and 
an  inspiration  and  example  to  the  young  men  of  the 
profession,  to  see  so  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
members  of  the  bar  gather  round  this  old  warrior,  who 
had  fought  the  battle  of  law  reform  for  half  a  century. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  PEACE  CONGRESS  IN  LONDON. 

The  summer  of  1890  found  Mr.  Field  once  more  in 
England,  so  regular  was  the  swing  of  the  pendulum 
from  one  side  of  the  ocean  to  the  other,  from  the  land 
of  his  fathers  to  the  home  of  his  children.  His  daugh 
ter,  after  the  death  of  Sir  Anthony  Musgrave,  had 
taken  a  house  at  Harrow  for  the  education  of  her  sons 
at  the  famous  school  founded  more  than  three  hundred 
years  ago,  from  which  have  come  many  who  have  added 
to  the  glory  of  England  in  arms;  in  literature  and 
science  ;  in  the  pulpit  and  at  the  bar. 

To  be  with  those  so  dear  to  him  was  to  Mr.  Field 
the  chief  attraction  to  England,  but  he  had  also  this 
summer  a  special  engagement,  to  preside  at  a  Peace 
Congress,  to  be  held  in  London,  that  would  bring 
together  representatives  from  many  countries,  who 
were  enlisted  one  and  all  in  the  common  cause  of 
promoting  the  peace  of  the  world. 

As  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  be  in  London,  or 
very  near  to  it,  no  suburb  could  be  more  convenient 
than  Harrow,  which  is  only  ten  miles  away,  and  from 
its  elevation  (for  it  is  "  Harrow-on-the-Hill ")  one  can 


LONDON   IN  THE   SEASON.  309 

almost  see  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's,  so  that  while  he  was 
far  enough  from  the  great  city  to  be  out  of  its  rush 
and  roar,  yet  he  was  so  near  that  he  could  be  whirled 
into  it  in  half  an  hour,  and  be  brought  back  again  at 
any  hour  of  day  or  night. 

As  the  meeting  of  the  Congress  was  not  to  be  until 
July  Mr.  Field  had  several  weeks  to  enjoy  the  society 
that  gathers  only  in  a  great  capital.  At  a  lawn  party  at 
Mr.  Gladstone's  he  met  Lord  Ripon,  whom  he  had  last 
seen  at  a  reception  in  New  York,  on  his  return  from 
Washington,  where  he  had  led  the  way  for  the  Ala 
bama  arbitration.  As  he  was  afterward  the  Governor- 
General  of  India,  he  had  represented  England  in  two 
hemispheres.  With  Lords  and  Commons  were  well- 
known  writers,  among  whom  were  Mrs.  Humphrey 
Ward  and  Mr.  James  Bryce,  who  has  made  our  part 
of  the  English  race  known  to  our  kinsmen  across  the 
sea  by  his  "American  Commonwealth."  But  the  chief 
charm  of  all  was  Mr.  Gladstone  himself,  moving  about 
among  his  guests,  enlivening  all  by  the  animated  con 
versation  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  living  men. 

From  the  Prime  Minister  who  had  ruled  England 
for  so  many  years,  it  was  but  a  step  to  the  present 
Prime  Minister,  Lord  Salisbury,  and  the  members  of 
his  cabinet,  whom  Mr.  Field  met  at  St.  James's  Palace, 
where  the  Prince  of  Wales  received  in  place  of  the 
Queen,  with  his  brothers,  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  and 
the  Duke  of  Connaught. 


310       FROM  PALACE  TO  PARLIAMENT. 

From  Palace  to  Parliament  was  an  easy  transition. 
That  very  evening  he  had  an  appointment  at  the  House 
of  Commons,  where  he  heard  an  animated  debate  on 
the  Irish  question  between  Mr.  Balfour,  Mr.  Gladstone, 
Sir  George  Trevelyan  and  others,  after  which  he  dined 
with  Sir  Richard  Webster  in  the  crypt  below,  where 
may  be  seen  every  evening  when  Parliament  is  in  ses 
sion  some  of  the  most  famous  men  of  England.  With 
Sir  Richard  were  two  of  his  sisters,  and  Sir  William 
Hart  Dyke  and  his  wife,  with  the  Solicitor-General  and 
Mr.  Henry  Moskelyne. 

Turning  from  Parliament,  which  has  centuries  of 
history  behind  it,  Mr.  Field  found  that  England  was 
not  so  old  as  to  be  above  trying  new  experiments  in 
government,  the  most  notable  of  which  was  the  Lon 
don  County  Council,  that  had  been  introduced  to  take 
the  place  of  the  old  ' '  vestries, "  which,  antiquated  and 
cumbrous  as  they  were,  were  yet  so  rooted  in  the  very 
soil  of  England,  like  the  oaks  which  had  stood  the 
storms  of  a  thousand  years,  that  it  seemed  that  they 
could  not  be  removed.  Yet  the  Reformers  did  achieve 
the  impossible  in  framing  an  ideal  city  government, 
which  is  almost  as  difficult  as  to  frame  that  of  a  king 
dom.  To  govern  Paris  is  to  govern  France.  It  would 
be  too  much  to  say  that  to  govern  London  is  to  govern 
England  :  but  certainly  a  wise  and  just  government  of 
the  greatest  city  in  the  world  would  be  an  "  object 
lesson "  to  all  cities  and  all  countries. 


LONDON  COUNTY  COUNCIL.          311 

Mr.  Field  was  curious  to  see  this  new  departure  in 
city  government,  and  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  who  was 
a  member  of  the  Council,  took  him  to  it,  and  introduced 
him  to  the  President,  Sir  John  Lubbock,  who  had  suc 
ceeded  Lord  Rosebery.  He  found  it  to  be  composed  of 
men  of  all  ranks  and  conditions,  from  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  the  first  Duke  of  the  realm,  to  John  Burns, 
the  representative  of  the  working  classes.  In  one  point 
it  extended  its  membership  further  than  any  American 
body,  as  it  had  at  least  one  member  of  the  other  sex, 
Miss  Cobden,  a  daughter  of  the  famous  Richard  Cob- 
den.  Whether  it  was  that  her  gentle  presence  imposed 
a  restraint  upon  the  other  members,  the  proceedings 
were  as  quiet  and  orderly  as  if  they  had  been  in  a 
church.  There  was  none  of  the  hurly  burly  and  con 
fusion  that  one  sees  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  in 
Paris  or  in  our  House  of  Representatives  in  Washing 
ton.  Everything  was  conducted  so  purely  with  a  single 
eye  to  business,  that,  if  Mr.  Field  had  been  asked  his 
opinion,  and  his  pride  as  an  American  had  not  forbid 
den,  I  am  afraid  that  he  would  have  answered  that 
London  had  the  best  municipal  government  in  the 
world  ;  while  New  York,  with  its  Board  of  Aldermen, 
largely  composed  of  Irish  bar  keepers,  had  the  worst ! 
Whether  it  will  be  better  under  the  constitution  of 
the  Greater  New  York  remains  to  be  seen. 

It  was  full  midsummer  when  the  Peace  Congress 
opened.  It  had  been  organized  only  the  year  before  in 


312  THE   PEACE   CONGRESS. 

Paris,  where  it  had  its  first  meeting,  and  now  crossed 
the  Channel,  carrying  out  what  in  war  might  be  called 
a  strategic  movement,  recognizing  the  principle  that  to 
reach  the  people  of  a  country,  the  most  direct  way  is  to 
advance  on  the  capital,  the  centre  of  population.  As 
became  a  country  in  which  the  Christian  religion  is 
recognized  as  the  most  potent  influence  for  peace 
among  men,  its  sessions  were  prefaced  by  a  special 
service  on  the  preceding  Sunday  in  St.  Paul's  Cathe 
dral,  where  seats  were  reserved  for  the  delegates,  and 
Canon  H.  Scott  Holland  preached  a  sermon  on  the 
text,  ' '  They  shall  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares 
and  their  spears  into  pruning  hooks. " 

On  Monday  morning  the  delegates  assembled  at  the 
Westminster  Town  Hall,  where  they  were  met  by  the 
Organizing  Committee,  of  which  Mr.  Hodgson  Pratt 
was  chairman  and  Mr.  W.  Evans  Darby  secretary. 
Nothing  could  be  more  grateful  than  the  hearty  English 
welcome.  If  they  could  only  have  had  the  presence  of 
two  of  their  old  leaders !  But  Lord  Shaftesbury,  who 
had  been  the  friend  of  Mr.  Field  for  many  years,  and 
was  foremost  in  every  good  cause,  had  gone  to  the 
grave ;  and  the  mighty  voice  of  John  Bright  was 
forever  silent.  But  the  love  of  liberty,  of  justice,  and 
of  peace,  which  they  had  kindled  in  the  hearts  of  their 
countrymen,  remained  behind  them.  It  was  also  an 
inspiration  to  those  who  came  from  the  Continent. 
France  was  represented  by  a  Member  of  the  Institute, 


REPRESENTATIVES   FROM   MANY    COUNTRIES.      313 

M.  Frederic  Passy,  who  took  a  very  active  part  in  the 
discussions,  as  did  also  Dr.  Charles  Richet,  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  M.  1'Abbe  Defourny,  and  others, 
who  read  papers  and  made  speeches  in  French. 
Whether  it  was  the  presence  of  the  Gauls  that  kept 
away  the  Germans  or  not,  there  were  but  three  repre 
sentatives  from  Germany,  one  of  whom  was  a  resident 
of  London,  and  another  a  lady,  the  widow  of  a  Ger 
man  pastor,  who  had  lived  there  ;  while  the  third,  Mr. 
Gustav  Meier,  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Frankfort- 
on-the-Main,  but  too  progressive  and  radical  in  opinion 
for  the  German  authorities.  He  removed  later  to 
Switzerland.  There  were  representatives  from  Italy 
and  Spain  ;  Belgium  and  Holland ;  Denmark  and 
Sweden  ;  Austria  and  Servia  ;  and  even  from  Asia 
Minor  and  India. 

In  his  welcome  the  Chairman  had  said  :  ' '  We  have 
desired  to  mark  our  international  character  by  appoint 
ing  a  president  who  is  not  an  Englishman,  but  a  citizen 
of  a  friendly  nation,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic," 
and  in  the  afternoon  the  Congress  was  formally  opened 
by  Mr.  Field,  who  as  he  rose  to  speak,  looked  round  on 
an  audience  such  as  is  rarely  assembled  in  London,  or 
in  any  European  capital.  Of  course,  it  was  largely  one 
of  Englishmen,  with  a  strong  element  of  Americans, 
but  with  them  were  many  of  other  countries  who,  if 
they  spoke  in  different  tongues,  recognized  one  another 
as  kindred  in  a  common  humanity. 


314  MR.  FIELD'S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Field  began  by  disclaiming  for  the  Congress 
any  official  character.  "We  are  here,"  he  said,  "to  do 
our  part  in  influencing  public  opinion  to  promote  the 
peace  of  nations.  We  have  no  authority  from  any 
government.  We  appeal — as  we  only  can  appeal — to 
the  reason  and  the  conscience  of  our  fellow  men." 
Then  advancing  immediately  to  his  subject :  the  two 
great  conditions  of  peace  were  Disarmament  and  Arbi 
tration.  The  first  was  more  of  an  European  than  an 
American  question,  as  our  army  was  so  small  that  it 
would  hardly  serve  for  the  smallest  European  State. 
Though  our  country  spread  across  a  continent,  and 
our,  population  was  over  sixty-four  millions,  yet  our 
"standing  army"  numbered  but  twenty-five  thousand 
soldiers  !  But  it  should  be  said  in  explanation  that  we 
really  had  no  enemies  :  that  our  vast  dominion  was 
bounded,  not  by  rival  kingdoms,  but  by  two  oceans ; 
so  that  we  needed  but  two  or  three  dozen  regiments, 
which  were  distributed  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  ; 
a  regiment  here  and  there  holding  a  fort  that  guarded 
one  of  our  great  commercial  cities,  and  that  might,  on 
occasion,  serve  as  an  aid  to  the  police  in  case  of  mobs 
or  riots  ;  while  other  regiments  were  distributed  on  the 
border  to  protect  the  settlers  against  the  Indians.  As 
to  the  cost  of  our  army,  it  was  utterly  insignificant 
for  a  nation  so  rich  as  ours. 

But   the    moment  we   crossed    the   ocean   all   was 
changed.     Here  were  great  empires  crowding  one  an- 


THE   COST   OF   WAR.  315 

other,  whose  armies  had  swelled  to  hundreds  of  thou 
sands,  till  the  whole  continent  trembled  under  their 
mighty  tread.  The  mere  existence  of  such  countless 
hosts,  drawn  up  in  battle  array,  was  itself  a  provoca 
tion  to  war.  And  then  the  fearful  cost !  Even  Eng 
land,  the  richest  nation  in  the  world,  felt  the  drain 
upon  her  vast  resources.  Said  Mr.  Field  : 

"The  burdens  of  the  warlike  establishments  of  the  Conti 
nental  States  are  already  grievous  to  be  borne.  Yet  the  German 
Emperor  has  just  called  for  more  batteries  of  artillery  to  be 
added  to  his  vast  army,  that  he  may  be  able  to  cope,  with  the 
ever-increasing  armaments  of  France  ;  and  even  in  England — 
impregnable  England — it  seems  to  be  a  political  maxim  that  her 
navy  must  always  be  kept  on  a  level  with  any  two  navies  in  the 
world.  In  the  admirable  address  of  Mr.  Charles  Roundell,  on 
the  progress  of  the  working  classes  of  England  during  the  pres 
ent  reign,  it  is  stated  that  a  calculation  has  been  made  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  how  each  pound  of  the  national  taxes  has 
been  spent  during  the  present  century.  The  calculation  is,  that 
there  has  been  spent  out  of  each  pound  : 

s.     d. 
On  war  and  preparations  for  war 16    3^ 

On  all  expenses  of  civil  government. ... 3    8^ 

For  all  these  wastes  and  woes  there  was  but  one 
remedy,  an  agreement  between  nations  that,  in  case  of 
difference,  instead  of  rushing  into  war,  the  questions 
in  dispute  should  be  submitted  to  the  impartial  judg 
ment  of  outside  parties,  that  were  not  enemies  to 
either,  but  friends  to  both  !  This  was  not  a  new  thing 


316          ARBITRATION   AS    OLD   AS   CIVILIZATION. 

under  the  sun.      "Arbitration  between  States,"  said 
Mr.  Field,  "is  as  old  as  civilization." 

"Two  of  the  Grecian  States,  when  Greece  was  in  her  glory, 
had  a  long-standing  dispute  about  an  island  off  their  coast. 
They  finally  agreed  to  submit  the  dispute  to  arbiters,  and  the 
award  was  religiously  kept.  Since  then  the  world  has  been 
deluged  in  blood,  but  now  and  then  during  the  tempest  a  voice 
has  been  heard  crying  for  the  arbitrament  of  reason  to  replace 
the  arbitrament  of  the  sword.  Henry  of  Navarre  was  one  of 
those  who  cried  for  it,  and  the  Papacy  has  more  than  once  offered 
its  mediation.  Finally,  when  the  Temple  of  Janus  wTas  closed  in 
1815,  men  turned  their  thoughts  more  than  before  to  the  means 
of  preventing  the  reopening  of  the  gates.  If  the  means  adopted 
have  not  been  altogether  successful,  they  have  prevented  some 
wars,  and  even  one  prevented  is  worth  all  the  trouble  that  the 
friends  of  peace  have  ever  taken. 

Of  this  arbitration  our  two  English-speaking  coun 
tries  had  given  a  noble  illustration.  After  our  Civil 
War  we  were  in  anything  but  a  friendly  mood.  A 
sense  of  wrong  kept  up  a  constant  irritation,  a  feeling 
of  bitterness,  that  -might  have  continued  to  this  day, 
if  we  had  not  agreed  to  submit  our  differences  to  an 
outside,  and  therefore  an  impartial,  tribunal. 

The  Alabama  arbitration  was  a  lesson  to  the  whole 
world.  But  the  Americans  had  bettered  the  instruc 
tion  by  going  one  step  further  still  in  what  we  may 
call  preventive  arbitration,  as  it  anticipates  danger  in 
case  of  any  incident  that  excites  the  public,  and  pre 
vents  an  explosion  by  the  assurance  that  the  matter 


TWO    CONTINENTS   DEDICATED   TO   PEACE.         317 

will  be  fairly  met,  and  fully  explained,  if  not  directly 
between  the  parties  themselves,  yet  by  reference  to 
other  countries  that  are  friends  of  both.  Only  the 
year  before  the  Congress  in  London,  there  had  been  an 
' '  International  Conference  "  in  Washington,  composed 
of  representatives  of  all  the  Republics  of  North,  Cen 
tral,  and  South  America,  which,  after  some  weeks  of 
deliberation,  adopted  arbitration  as  the  principle  of 
American  International  Law  for  the  settlement  of 
differences,  disputes,  or  controversies  ^that  might  arise 
between  them  !  At  the  close  of  this  conference  Mr. 
Elaine,  Secretary  of  State,  bidding  adieu  to  the  dele 
gates,  said  :  "If  in  this  closing  hour  the  Conference 
had  but  one  deed  to  celebrate,  we  should  call  the  world's 
attention  to  the  deliberate,  confident,  and  solemn  dedi 
cation  of  two  great  continents  to  peace.  We  hold  up 
this  new  Magna  Charta,  which  abolishes  war,  and 
substitutes  arbitration  between  the  American  Repub 
lics,  as  the  first  and  great  fruit  of  the  International 
American  Conference." 

The  summer  of  1890  may  well  be  called  a  golden 
summer,  as  the  very  air  seemed  to  be  filled  with  peace  : 

No  war  nor  battle's  sound 
Was  heard  the  world  around." 

The  whole  earth  was  at  rest  and  quiet.  Hardly  had 
the  Peace  Congress  adjourned  before  it  was  followed 
by  another  assemblage,  kindred  but  not  the  same,  an 


318  IS   IT   ALL   A   DREAM  ? 

" Inter- Parliamentary  Conference,"  composed  of  mem 
bers  of  the  Parliaments  of  different  countries,  who  in 
meeting  face  to  face  came  to  that  full  understanding, 
which  is  the  best  assurance  of  peace.  When  their 
deliberations  were  over,  they  all  sat  down  together  at 
a  feast  of  good  will,  at  which  Mr.  Field  wTas  a  guest, 
and  when  called  upon  for  his  word  of  cheer,  answered 
briefly  : 

"My  Lords  and  Gentlemen,  I  ani  going  to  preach  you  a  very 
short  sermon  upon  the  text  proposed  by  Mr.  Shaw-Lefevre — an 
International  Parliamentary  movement.  Last  week  I  had  the 
honor  of  being  present  at  an  unofficial  Congress,  composed  of  pri 
vate  individuals  of  many  nations,  earnestly  bent  on  doing  what 
they  might  to  further  the  cause  of  international  arbitration. 
To-night  I  am  proud  to  address  a  body  of  Parliamentary  repre 
sentatives  inspired  by  the  same  lofty  ideal. 

' '  I  hear  people  declare  us  enthusiasts,  dreamers,  unpractical 
folk  chasing  a  phantom.  But  stop  a  moment !  Think  a  moment ! 
Is  it  true  that  we  are  unpractical  ?  What  is  that  prayer  we  hear 
Sunday  after  Sunday,  'Give  peace  in  our  time,  O  Lord.'  What 
does  that  mean  ?  It  means  that  we  have  the  consciences  of  the 
world  with  us.  Things  change  as  time  rolls  on.  Suppose  the 
common  people  in  the  time  of  the  Plantagenets  and  Tudors  had 
claimed  the  right  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  What 
would  the  nobles  have  said  ?  But  what  do  the  nobles  say  now  ? 

"•'  We  are  called  unpractical,  but  when  the  German  Emperor 
demands  more  battalions  for  his  armies,  and  a  representative  of 
the  groaning  German  people  rises  in  the  Reichstag  and  asks  with 
whose  blood  and  "whose  money  those  battalions  are  to  be  paid 
for — is  that  unpractical  ?  And  when  the  statistician  tells  you 
Englishmen  that  during  the  whole  of  this  century,  for  every 


GOING  TO   THE   CONTINENT.  319 

pound  of  public  money  raised,  16s.  3^d  have  been  spent  for 
war — is  that  unpractical  ?  And  when  you  learn  that  to-day  out 
of  six  hundred  and  seventy  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
there  are  two  hundred  and  thirty -four  ready  to  vote  for  an  arbi 
tration  treaty,  and  that  if  only  one  hundred  more  members  will 
join  us,  the  problem  is  solved — is  that  unpractical  ? 

No  1  we  are  not  visionaries  in  fighting  the  battle  of  civiliza 
tion.  The  contest  may  be  long,  but  the  victory  is  sure.  We 
may  not  see  it  in  our  day,  but  our  children  will,  when  the  church 
bells  shall  ring  all  over  the  world  for  the  coming  of  universal 
peace. " 

And  was  this  gathering  of  the  nations  merely  pomp 
and  show,  signifying  nothing  ?  On  the  contrary  it  was 
more  sacred  and  binding  than  any  treaty.  From  the 
hour  when  the  Americans  were  taken  into  the  hearts 
and  homes  of  England,  they  could  not  help  feeling 
that  they  were  no  more  "aliens  from  the  common 
wealth  of  Israel,"  but  fellow-heirs  in  the  great  inherit 
ance  of  learning,  of  liberty,  and  of  religion. 

After  the  strain  of  this  continued  excitement  Mr. 
Field  felt  the  need  of  rest,  and  with  his  daughter  and 
her  two  younger  cadets  (the  eldest  was  on  board  his 
ship  in  the  Mediterranean),  took  flight  to  the  Continent. 
They  had  engaged  rooms  at  Heidelburg,  which  had 
especial  attractions  to  young  students  in  its  ancient 
university,  as  well  as  in  its  beautiful  scenery  on  the 
Neckar.  Leaving  them  in  these  picturesque  surround 
ings  Mr.  Field  went  to  Homburg,  to  which  Americans 
flock  not  only  for  its  waters,  but  for  the  great  number 


320  SIR   CHARLES   RUSSELL. 

of  visitors  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  among  whom  are 
always  some  notable  personalities. 

A  striking  figure  this  summer  was  the  old  Duke  of 
Cambridge,  so  long  the  commander  in  Chief  of  the 
English  army,  in  which  he  succeeded  the  Duke  of  Wel 
lington,  to  whom  Mr.  Field  was  introduced,  and  al 
though  watering-place  acquaintances  do  not  ordinarily 
amount  to  much,  there  seems  to  have  been  an  attrac 
tion  between  these  two  old  veterans.  Again,  a  stranger 
of  such  commanding  presence  that  he  might  have  been 
a  soldier,  introduced  himself  as  Sir  Charles  Russell. 
The  two  men  were  at  once  drawn  to  each  other  by  the 
common  interests  of  professional  life,  and  by  the  rela 
tions  of  their  two  countries,  and  were  soon  plunged  in  a 
long  conversation  about  the  English  bar  and  English 
politics.  This  first  interview  gave  Mr.  Field  a  very 
high  opinion  of  his  new  acquaintance,  so  that  it  was 
no  surprise,  on  the  death  of  Lord  Coleridge,  to  see  Sir 
Charles  Russell  named  at  once  for  the  succession  as 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England. 

From  these  restful  days  Mr.  Field  was  recalled  to 
England  to  take  part  in  another  "Association"  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  and  might  almost  be  called 
the  founder — that  * '  for  the  Reform  and  Codification  of 
the  Law  of  Nations,"  which  met  this  year  at  Liverpool. 

Returning  to  London,  he  joined  some  American 
friends,  with  whom  he  had  been  invited  to  pay  a  visit 
to  Winstead  Abbey,  the  home  of  Byron,  an  invitation 


VISIT   TO   NEWSTEAD   ABBEY.  321 

which  appealed  to  one  who  could  well  remember  when 
Byron  was  the  idol  of  the  youth  of  America,  not  only 
for  his  poetry,  that  will  live  as  long  as  the  English 
tongue,  but  for  his  romantic  career,  dying  in  Greece, 
where  he  had  gone  to  join  in  the  struggle  for  liberty. 

Accepting  the  invitation,  they  left  London  for  New- 
stead  Station,  where  the  carriage  of  Mr.  Webb,  the 
proprietor  of  the  estate,  was  waiting  for  them.  The 
Abbey  is  a  mile  and  a  half  distant,  to  which  they  were 
driven  between  rows  of  trees  to  where  a  turn  brought 
them  in  sight  of  the  Abbey,  the  arch  of  the  chapel 
standing  in  the  gloaming  naked  against  the  sky.  The 
rest  of  the  old  pile  remains  or  has  been  restored. 

They  were  welcomed  with  true  English  hospitality 
and  introduced  to  whatever  there  was  that  had  any 
association  with  the  poet.  Here  was  Byron's  own 
room,  with  the  bed  on  which  he  slept,  and  the  old  hall, 
where  he  had  his  revels  with  his  friends.  The  room 
assigned  to  Mr.  Field  was  the  one  occupied  by  Wash 
ington  Irving  when  he  visited  the  Abbey,  to  take  in 
its  features  for  the  description  in  his  Sketch  Book. 
From  the  Abbey  they  were  driven  to  Hocknall  church, 
where  the  poet  sleeps  after  his  stormy  life  :  and  the 
evening  was  spent  in  looking  over  his  manuscripts. 

From  this  old  Abbey  Mr.  Field  and  his  friends  flew 
away  to  Scotland  to  visit  American  friends  on  Loch 
Lomond,  and  then,  returning  to  Liverpool,  embarked 
for  their  home  beyond  the  sea. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

VISIT     FROM     HIS     DAUGHTER     AND     HER     SONS  —  THE 
DEATH   OF   HIS   BROTHER    CYRUS. 

To  spend  a  season  in  London,  in  a  constant  round  of 
public  meetings  and  social  engagements,  may  be  very 
delightful,  but  would  hardly  be  prescribed  by  a  physi 
cian  to  a  man  in  his  eighty-sixth  year.  Mr.  Field  had 
an  iron  frame  that  could  bear  any  amount  of  fatigue, 
but  when  he  had  crossed  the  sea  he  felt  the  reaction, 
and  found  it  wise  to  reserve  his  remaining  strength  by 
going  into  winter  quarters. 

But  to  a  man  who  never  wanted  for  occupation  the 
months  were  not  long  nor  lonely,  and  he  celebrated  his 
eighty-sixth  birthday  with  his  brothers  and  nephews 
and  nieces  around  him.  In  the  evening  General  Sher 
man  came  in  to  offer  his  congratulations.  They  were 
warm  friends,  and  found  great  pleasure  in  recalling 
their  memories  of  former  years.  But  the  warrior's 
work  was  done.  The  next  week  he  was  taken  ill  and 
died  in  a  few  days.  The  funeral  pageant  was  such  as 
had  not  been  seen  in  New  York  since  that  of  General 
Grant,  and  was  a  warning  to  many  of  the  veterans 
who  followed  him  to  the  grave,  among  whom  was  Mr. 


A   FAMILY   MEETING   ON   THE   HUDSON.  323 

Field.  The  warning  came  none  too  soon,  for  in  another 
week  he,  too,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  doctor,  who,  after 
a  careful  examination,  told  him  that  his  stout  old  heart 
did  not  beat  quite  so  firm  and  strong  as  when  he  was 
in  the  full  swing  of  lusty  life.  Its  irregular  beating 
was  a  danger  signal.  As  he  could  not  go  abroad  to  see 
his  dear  ones,  they  must  come  to  him.  He  took  a 
house  at  Dobbs  Ferry,  where  he  was  soon  joined  by  his 
daughter  and  her  two  youngest  sons,  as  the  oldest  was 
on  board  his  ship.  Thus  the  family  that  had  been  at 
Harrow  the  year  before  was  established  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson  and  passed  a  happy  summer  together. 

It  was  not  till  the  beginning  of  September  that  they 
took  their  leave.  As  Mr.  Field's  brother  Cyrus  had  a 
yacht,  which  was  always  at  the  service  of  coming  and 
departing  guests,  they  all  went  on  board  for  their  last 
sail.  It  was  a  perfect  day.  The  woods  were  beginning 
to  be  touched  with  their  autumn  hues,  while  light 
clouds  were  floating  in  the  deep  blue  sky.  In  an  hour 
or  two  the  boat  drew  up  at  the  Cunard  dock,  from 
which  the  voyagers  waved  their  adieus  to  those  on 
board  the  yacht  as  it  turned  and  steamed  up  the  river. 

Mr.  Field  lingered  in  the  country  for  some  weeks  to 
enjoy  the  beauty  of  the  autumn,  coming  into  town  on 
the  12th  of  October.  He  was  still  under  the  doctor's 
care,  but  went  out  on  the  3d  of  November  to  cast  his 
vote  for  the  first  time  under  the  new  ballot,  formed 
after  the  Australian  model. 


32-1  A   WINTER   AMONG    HIS   BOOKS. 

The  next  day  saw  him  in  a  novel  court.  Though  he 
had  been  all  his  life  arguing  cases  at  the  bar,  he  had 
never  been  present  at  an  ecclesiastical  tribunal !  Pro 
fessor  Briggs,  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  was 
accused  of  heresy  before  the  Presbytery  of  which  I 
was  a  member,  and  I  invited  my  brother  to  accompany 
me  to  hear  his  defence.  It  was  written  out  in  full,  and 
the  reading  took  two  hours  and  a  half.  But  Mr.  Field, 
who  was  always  interested  in  a  subtle  argument,  sat  to 
the  end,  though  I  am  afraid  that  he  did  not  go  away 
with  increased  respect  for  our  church  courts,  when  he 
saw  an  eminent  scholar  arraigned  because  of  his  inter 
pretation  of  some  passages  in  the  Old  Testament.  But 
he  was  not  much  concerned  about  the  issue,  for  he  was 
sure  that,  sooner  or  later,  truth  would  make  its  way. 
He  was  content  to  say  with  Galileo,  ' '  The  world  does 
move  ! " 

The  winter  was  a  very  quiet  one,  as  the  rigors  of 
the  season  kept  him  within  doors,  but  even  then  there 
was  an  exhilaration  in  looking  out  through  the  frosted 
panes  at  the  flying  snow.  Though  shut  up  among  his 
books,  he  was  not  without  company  in  the  great  minds 
that  spoke  to  him  from  the  printed  page,  while  he  was 
still  an  interested  observer  of  the  events  of  the  passing 
time.  His  friends,  too,  felt  it  to  be  a  privilege  to  spend 
an  hour  in  conversation  with  him,  so  that  he  was  never 
lonely,  and  when  he  completed  his  eighty-seventh  year, 
looking  backward  on  the  life  that  was  nearly  ended, 


WHAT   IS   IT   NOW   TO   LIVE  ?  325 

and  forward  to  the  longer  life  that  was  soon  to  begin, 
he  thus  moralized  with  himself  : 

What  is  it  now  to  live  ?    It  is  to  breathe 

The  air  of  heaven,  behold  the  pleasant  earth; 

The  shining  rivers,  the  inconstant  sea, 

Sublimity  of  mountains,  wealth  of  clouds, 

And  radiance  o'er  all  of  countless  stars. 

It  is  to  sit  before  the  cheerful  hearth 

With  groups  of  friends  and  kindred,  store  of  books, 

Rich  heritage  from  ages  past  ; 

Hold  sweet  communion  soul  with  soul, 
On  things  now  past,  or  present  or  to  come, 
Or  muse  alone  upon  my  earlier  days, 

Unbind  the  scroll  whereon  is  writ 

The  story  of  my  busy  life, 
Mistakes  too  often,  but  successes  more, 
And  consciousness  of  duty  done. 
It  is  to  see  with  laughing  eyes  the  play 

Of  children  sporting  on  the  lawn, 

Or  mark  the  eager  strifes  of  men 

And  nations,  seeking  each  and  all, 

Belike  advantage  to  obtain 

Above  their  f  ellows  ;  such  is  man  ! 
It  is  to  feel  the  pulses  quicken,  as  I  hear 

Of  great  achievements  near  or  far 

Whereon  may  turn  perchance 
The  fate  of  generations  ages  hence. 
It  is  to  rest  with  folded  arms  betimes, 

And  so  surrounded,  so  sustained, 

Ponder  on  what  may  yet  befall 

In  that  unknown  mysterious  realm 


326       A  SHADOW  ON  THE  HOUSEHOLD. 

Which  lies  beyond  the  range  of  mortal  ken, 
Where  souls  immortal  do  forever  dwell, 
Think  of  the  loved  ones  who  await  me  there, 
And  without  murmuring  or  inward  grief, 
With  mind  unbroken  and  no  fear, 
Calmly  await  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 

With  such  serenity  he  contemplated  the  future. 
But  he  could  not  be  insensible  to  the  sorrow  of  one  so 
dear  to  him  as  his  brother  Cyrus,  whose  life  had  been 
not  only  one  of  great  activity  and  distinction,  but  of 
complete  domestic  happiness.  Married  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  he  had  lived  with  the  wife  of  his  youth  for 
half  a  century.  Only  a  few  months  before  they  had 
celebrated  their  golden  wedding,  with  congratulations 
from  both  sides  of  the  ocean.  But  the  next  summer, 
when  they  had  removed  to  their  beautiful  home  on  the 
Hudson,  she  was  taken  ill,  and  died  at  the  close  of 
autumn,  to  be  followed  in  a  few  months  by  their  eldest 
daughter,  which,  with  other  sorrows,  quite  broke  his 
heart. 

From  that  moment  he  lost  his  interest  in  life.  He 
had  no  heart  to  go  anywhere,  but  once  came  with 
Dudley  to  us  on  my  birthday.  It  seemed  to  comfort 
him  to  be  with  his  brothers,  and  we  tried  all  our  gentle 
arts  to  cheer  him.  He  brightened  a  little  and  once  or 
twice  a  smile  passed  over  his  sad  face.  But  his  heart 
was  in  the  grave,  and  we  could  not  repress  the  forebod 
ing  that  this  family  meeting  might  be  our  last,  and  so 


DEATH  OF  HIS  BROTHER  CYRUS.        327 

it  proved.  In  June  he  went  to  the  country,  and  there  in 
midsummer  the  end  came.  In  the  diary  which  Dudley 
kept,  he  recalls  the  final  scene  : 

"July  12th.  Our  dear  brother  Cyrus  breathed  his 
last  this  morning.  He  had  been  ailing  and  mourning 
all  the  while  since  our  dinner  at  Henry's,  but  in  June 
he  was  moved  to  his  country  seat  at  Dobbs  Ferry, 
where  he  hoped  he  might  revive,  and  he  did  a  little, 
but  it  was  only  a  flush  of  life  from  the  country  air, 
and  so  he  lingered,  sometimes  better,  sometimes  worse. 
Stephen  arrived  from  Washington  a  week  before,  and 
Henry  from  Stockbridge,  and  both  remained  at  the 
house  and  were  with  him  constantly.  I  went  two  or 
three  times  a  day  from  Hastings,  where  Laura  [the 
wife  of  Dudley,  Jr.]  was  occupying  her  old  home. 
This  morning  Stephen  and  Henry  sent  for  me  to  hasten 
to  Cyrus's  bedside.  I  knew  what  the  message  meant, 
and  went  at  once.  I  found  him  unconscious,  but 
breathing  still ;  we  watched  him  closely,  sitting  by 
his  bedside,  the  three  brothers,  Mrs.  Judson  and 
her  two  sons.  Hemorrhage  from  the  lungs  set  in, 
and  at  9  :50  his  lips  ceased  to  move.  His  busy  life  was 
ended. 

"A  simple  religious  service  was  held  at  his  house 
on  Thursday  afternoon,  and  the  next  morning  we  went 
in  a  funeral  train  to  Stockbridge,  where  we  rode  slowly 
through  the  village  street,  so  beautiful  with  its  long 
avenue  of  maples  and  elms,  to  the  old  Congregational 


328  AT   REST   BY   HIS   KINDRED. 

Church,  in  which  our  father  had  preached  for  so  many 
years,  and  the  beloved  form  was  laid  in  the  aisle  before 
the  pulpit.  The  service  was  very  simple :  only  a 
prayer,  with  reading  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  singing 
of  one  or  two  favorite  hymns  ;  and  the  procession 
formed  again,  and  moved  across  the  green  to  the 
burying  ground  where  our  father  and  mother  lay,  and 
where  his  wife  had  been  laid  but  a  few  weeks  before. 
There,  in  the  sweet  summer  afternoon,  we  laid  him  to 
rest  in  a  bed  of  ferns  and  pine  boughs  and  covered 
with  flowers.  Peacefully  now  he  sleeps  where  he  so 
often  said  he  wished  to  sleep,  by  the  side  of  his  wife 
and  close  to  his  father  and  mother,  his  sister  and  his 
oldest  son.  Long  as  any  of  us  survive,  shall  we 
cherish  the  memory  of  our  beloved  brother." 


' 


round  \vl»f«rr  our  father  awl  :no 
wiiV  luvi  i*ot)u  laid  but  a  fuw  \\>*«k^      Tonv 
thr>  >v-"»4  summer  afterhoon,  wv  lax 5  lxi;u  t.<; 
b»>d         ferns  find  pine  boughs  ami  covered 
•rs,        («sAC?eCuliy  now  he  sloops  wlir-ro  lie  so 
v-v5>hod  to  sicep,  by  liu>  side  of  iu,^  vn(V 
-  father  and  nv>th<.r.  hi«  >i^; 
I  .vug   as   any   of 
jorv"  of  our.  Mo* 


E     BIERSTADT. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  LAST  SUMMER  AMONG  THE  HILLS. 

The  summer  of  1893  Mr.  Field  did  not  spend  abroad. 
One  year  before  we  had  laid  our  dear  Cyrus  to  rest 
beside  his  kindred,  among  the  hills  where  he  was  born, 
and  his  eldest  brother  could  not  but  choose  to  pass 
the  following  summer — the  last,  as  it  proved,  that  he 
was  to  spend  on  earth — in  the  quiet  valley  so  dear  to  us 
all  from  its  associations  with  the  living  and  the  dead. 

As  Mr.  Field's  house  on  the  hill  top  in  Stockbridge 
was  much  too  large  for  his  diminished  household,  he 
took  up  his  home  for  the  summer  in  the  village,  in 
*  *  Laurel  Cottage, "  that  was  full  of  pleasant  memories 
as  it  had  belonged  to  his  second  wife.  * 

It  is  in  a  quiet  nook,  embowered  among  the  trees, 


*Mr.  Field  was  three  times  married,  first  to  Jane  Lucinda 
Hopkins,  of  Stockbridge,  who  was  the  mother  of  his  children, 
who  died  in  1836  :  second  to  Mrs.  Harriet  Davidson,  the  widow 
of  James  Davidson,  who  died  in  1864  :  and  third  to  Mrs.  Mary 
Elizabeth  Carr,  the  widow  of  Dr.  Samuel  J.  Carr,  a  physician  of 
Baltimore,  who  died  in  1876.  "Laurel  Cottage"  has  since  been 
made  familiar  to  the  public  by  the  delightful  letters  of  Matthew 
Arnold,  who  occupied  it  in  the  summer  of  1886. 


330  SUNSHINE   WITHOUT   AND   WITHIN. 

with  a  background  on  one  side  of  the  rocky  knoll  of 
Laurel  Hill,  at  the  foot  of  which  the  Housatonic  flows 
gently  under  the  willows.  Mr.  Field's  room  was  on 
the  second  floor,  in  the  rear,  looking  South,  so  that  it 
was  full  of  sunshine,  while  from  the  window  he  looked 
down  the  green  slope  to  the  river,  beyond  which  rose 
the  wooded  side  of  Bear  Mountain,  so  named  from  the 
bears  that  were  once  as  numerous  among  the  rocks  and 
trees  as  were  the  Indians  who  built  their  wigwams  in 
the  valley  below.* 

And  if  there  was  sunshine  without  there  was  sun 
shine  within.  He  was  always  sitting  at  his  table, 
reading  or  writing,  but  ready  to  lay  down  book  or  pen 
to  talk  on  the  topics  of  the  day,  on  which  he  gave  his 

*  Possibly  his  interest  was  increased  because  of  a  feeling 
almost  of  reverence  for  the  primeval  forest.  The  sound  of  the 
woodman's  axe  had  no  music  to  his  ears,  and  he  was  almost 
indignant  at  the  farmers,  who  swept  acres  upon  acres,  leaving 
the  earth  naked  and  bare.  This  he  looked  upon  as  a  kind  of 
desecration,  and  from  time  to  time  bought  large  tracts  to  save 
the  forests,  so  that  at  last  he  found  himself  the  owner  of  a  whole 
mountain  side.  Of  this  he  gave  to  the  town  fifty -eight  acres, 
including  the  Ice  Glen,  a  deep  gorge  in  the  mountain  (which 
had  apparently  been  rent  asunder  by  an  earthquake),  that  for 
its  wildness  is  a  favorite  resort  of  the  young  people,  who  come 
at  night,  when  the  darkness  is  lighted  up  by  naming  torches, 
which  but  magnify  the  surrounding  gloom  and  perchance  give 
a  creeping  chill  to  the  young  men  and  maidens,  that  is  only 
removed  as  they  emerge  by  a  dance  on  the  green  ! 


IS   THERE   ANOTHER    LIFE?  331 

opinions  freely,  and  was  no  less  ready  to  listen  to  mine, 
however  little  they  might  be  worth,  from  which  we 
wandered  off  to  graver  subjects,  for  his  mind  was  so 
active  that  he  was  ready  to  talk  on  the  law  or  the 
Gospel,  on  politics  or  religion. 

It  may  surprise  some  who  did  not  know  the  man  to 
be  told  that  our  conversations  were  often  on  the  gravest 
subjects — of  the  supernatural  and  the  life  to  come.  He 
did  not  talk  of  these  things  with  everybody.  As  he  did 
not  intrude  into  the  opinions  of  others,  no  stranger 
would  presume  to  catechise  him  as  to  his  belief  or 
unbelief.  But,  like  every  thoughtful  man,  he  was  not 
without  his  questionings  about  the  great  mysteries  of 
life,  and  when  he  was  with  an  old  friend,  like  Mark 
Hopkins,  he  talked  freely.  But  now  that  friend  was 
gone,  and  he  had  his  own  silent,  solitary  thoughts.  As 
he  rode  over  the  hills,  and  saw  the  sun  going  down  in 
the  west,  he  could  but  reflect  how  soon  he  would  sink 
below  the  horizon.  And  then  what?  Was  it  all  a 
blank  ?  or  was  there  another  life  that  was  to  begin  ? 
Man's  breath  goeth  forth  from  his  nostrils.  But  is  the 
soul  only  a  breath?  Is  thought  only  the  vibration  of 
particles  of  the  brain,  as  the  strings  of  an  instrument 
give  forth  sound?  When  the  instrument  is  broken 
the  music  is  gone.  Why  may  not  the  last  sigh  of 
the  departing  soul  be  the  utter  going  out  of  life, 
growing  fainter  and  fainter  till  it  is  lost  in  the  eternal 
silence  ? 


332    SCIENCE    AND    RELIGION — OPINION    OF   AGASSIZ. 

All  these  questions  hung  on  the  greater  one  of  the 
existence  of  God.  Mr.  Field  had  in  his  college  days 
studied  Butler's  Analogy  and  Paley's  Natural  Theol 
ogy,  and  accepted  their  conclusions.  But  with  his 
logical  mind  he  was  always  open  to  argument,  and 
was  not  afraid  to  look  any  proofs  squarely  in  the  face, 
even  if  they  led  him  to  annihilation  !  Such  a  man 
could  not  be  indifferent  to  the  scientific  speculations  of 
the  day,  supported  as  they  were  by  new  discoveries. 
Darwin  had  made  a  great  stir  in  the  scientific  world  by 
his  work  entitled  "  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Nat 
ural  Selection,"  followed  up  by  "The  Descent  of  Man," 
in  which  he  attempts  to  trace  it  to  a  development  from 
a  lower  order  of  animal  life.  Indeed  he  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  picture  the  ancestor  of  the  human  race,  saying 
that  "Man  is  descended  from  a  hairy  quadruped,  fur 
nished  with  a  tail  and  pointed  ears,  probably  arboreal 
in  its  habits  ! "  This  was  an  ancestry  that  was  not  very 
flattering  to  our  pride,  but  the  theory  was  caught  up 
by  the  atheists  of  the  Continent  as  doing  away  with 
the  need  of  an  Author  of  all  things.  But  in  America 
there  was  at  least  one  man  of  science,  Louis  Agassiz, 
who  was  not  carried  away  by  this  assumption  of  supe 
rior  knowledge  :  as  I  once  heard  him  declare  in  the 
ringing  voice  that  bespoke  a  conviction  w^hich  nothing 
could  shake,  that  the  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end, 
which  runs  through  nature,  is  the  infallible  token  of 
mind,  the  proof  of  an  intelligent  Creator. 


4W 

TYNDALL   AND   LORD   KELVIN.  333  j 

Another  great  authority  was  equally  positive.  In 
the  year  1884  the  British  Association  for  the  Promotion 
of  Science  met  for  the  first  time  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  in  Montreal,  and  among  the  distinguished 
men  who  came  to  it  was  Sir  William  Thomson,  now 
Lord  Kelvin.  As  he  had  been  closely  associated  with 
our  brother  Cyrus  in  the  laying  of  the  Atlantic  cable, 
the  latter  claimed  him  as  his  guest  as  soon  as  he  landed 
in  America.  On  his  way  to  Montreal,  he  came  to  us  in 
our  country  home,  and  spent  a  few  days  in  the  Berk 
shire  Hills.  Of  course  I  could  not  lose  the  opportunity 
of  questioning  such  an  authority  on  the  relation  of 
science  and  religion — questions  which  he  met  with  the 
coolness  of  a  philosopher,  to  whom  nothing  was  sacred 
but  truth.  He  thought  that  the  much  vaunted  theory 
of  natural  selection  had  had  its  day.  Cold  and  cheer 
less  as  it  was,  he  would  not  shrink  from  it,  if  it  was 
supported  by  evidence.  But  it  was,  to  use  the  form  of 
a  Scotch  verdict,  "unproven."  "But  what,"  I  asked, 
*  *  do  you  say  to  the  bold  prediction  of  Tyndall  that  '  in 
matter  will  yet  be  found  the  promise  and  the  potency 
of  all  life?'"  to  which  he  answered  with  a  smile,  "I 
do  not  think  Tyndall  would  say  that  now;"  and  then  ho 
told  me  how  Pasteur  had  exploded  the  theory  of  spon 
taneous  generation  ;  and  gave  me  his  own  opinion  that 
the  argument  from  design  in  the  material  world,  as 
wrought  out  in  what  he  called  ' '  that  excellent  old  book, 
Paley's  Natural  Theology,"  was  unanswerable  ! 


334  GOING    ABROAD   FOR   THE   LAST   TIME. 

All  these  points  I  talked  over  with  my  brother  for 
hours,  and  he  assented  to  the  conclusions,  but  never 
argued  about  it,  for  the  questions  were  too  awful  to  be 
discussed  like  a  point  of  law.  Sometimes  he  sat  silent, 
leaning  his  head  upon  his  hand,  with  a  far-away  look, 
as  if  he  was  peering  into  the  distant  and  unknown.  A 
photograph  taken,  I  know  not  where,  perhaps  on  the 
other  side  of  the  globe,  shows  him  in  these  thoughtful 
moods,  as  I  have  seen  him  a  thousand  times. 

But  happy  as  he  was  this  last  summer  in  riding  about 
the  Berkshire  Hills,  yet  as  the  season  drew  on,  and  the 
autumn  leaves  began  to  fall,  I  perceived  a  yearning  for 
the  dear  ones  beyond  the  sea,  and  he  said,  * '  I  want  to 
see  my  daughter  once  more,  and  my  boys,"  as  he 
always  called  his  grandsons,  even  when  they  were 
nearly  grown  to  manhood.  Indeed  the  eldest,  who  bore 
his  grandfather's  name  of  Dudley,  had  just  reached  his 
majority,  and  it  was  partly  to  celebrate  this  event  that 
he  wished  to  spend  the  coming  Christmas  in  England. 
If  he  could  but  once  more  be  with  that  beloved 
group,  he  could  die  happy.  The  doctors  shook  their 
heads,  for  he  had  not  yet  fully  recovered  from  the 
illness  of  three  years  before.  But  love  carried  it  over 
prudence  and  that  last  satisfaction  was  given  him. 
Leaving  home  late  in  the  autumn,  in  two  weeks  he 
was  sitting  before  the  open  fire  at  the  home  of  his 
daughter  in  East  Grinstead,  in  Sussex,  about  thirty 
miles  from  London,  to  which  Lady  Musgrave  had 


STRONG  PATERNAL  AFFECTION.         335 

removed  after  her  sons  had  finished  their  studies  at 
Harrow.  Here  they  were  all  gathered  round  him. 
Dudley  was  already  a  midshipman  in  the  navy,  but 
fortunately  his  ship  was  now  in  an  English  port,  so 
that  he  was  able  almost  every  Sunday  to  visit  his 
mother  and  grandfather.  Arthur  was  in  the  military 
school  at  Woolwich,  while  the  youngest,  Herbert,  had 
made  his  studies  for  the  same  profession,  and  had  gone 
through  his  examinations,  but  had  not  yet  heard  the 
result,  for  which  he  was  waiting  with  no  small  anxiety, 
as  there  were  four  hundred  candidates,  and  only  fifty 
appointments.  But  one  morning  The  Times  brought 
the  full  report,  from  which  it  appeared  that  he  was, 
not  only  one  of  the  fifty,  but  the  second  on  the  list ! 
This  was,  of  course,  immensely  gratifying  to  the  young 
soldier,  and  to  his  mother  and  brothers,  but  perhaps 
most  of  all  to  his  grandfather,  in  whom  the  paternal 
instinct  was  very  strong.  It  did  one's  heart  good  to 
see  the  mixture  of  pride  and  affection  that  glowed  in 
his  face  as  he  looked  round  the  little  circle  of  those 
who  had  his  blood  in  their  veins.  If  he  was  ambitious 
for  his  grandsons,  it  was  only  that  as  they  grew  in 
years  they  should  develop  a  manliness  that  gave  promise 
of  an  honorable  career.  In  a  pamphlet  of  "  Personal 
Recollections"  which  he  had  prepared  for  his  grand 
children,  he  closes  with  this  tender  farewell  to  those 
who  should  come  after  him  : 

"Here,  in  the  middle  of  my  eighty-eighth  year,  I 


336   LEGACY  TO  THOSE  WHO  COME  AFTER  HIM. 

close  what  are  hardly  worthy  to  be  called  'Reminis- 
cences,'  since  they  are  little  more  than  a  succession  of 
dates,  with  names  of  persons  and  places.  But  even 
these  have  their  use.  The  dates  of  the  years  as  they 
pass  are  so  many  milestones  to  mark  the  successive 
stages  of  our  life's  journey  :  while  the  names  of  places 
far  apart  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  tell  of  the  goings  to 
and  fro  :  and  as  a  background  for  the  personalities 
that  appear  as  actors  on  the  stage,  they  recall  the 
varied  scenes  and  occupations  of  a  long  and  laborious 
life.  These  guide  posts  will  be  of  service  at  least  to 
my  grandchildren,  who  from  these  'Notes'  may  turn 
back  to  the  'Diaries,'  where  all  is  detailed  with  greater 
fullness,  from  which  they  may  know  what  manner  of 
man  their  grandfather  was.  To  them  he  leaves  this 
brief  story  of  his  life,  only  reminding  them  that,  on 
whichever  side  of  the  ocean  their  lot  may  be  cast,  the 
elements  of  true  manhood  are  the  same  ;  and  bequeath 
ing  to  them,  as  their  best  inheritance,  the  love  of  free 
dom,  the  spirit  of  independence  ;  fidelity  in  every  posi 
tion,  private  or  public ;  and  the  traditions  of  truth, 
justice  and  honor." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

HOMEWARD  BOUND — THE  GOING  DOWN  OF  THE  SUN. 

Delightful  as  are  the  homes  of  England,  the  coun 
try  is  not  quite  the  same  in  December  as  in  May. 
It  is  now  as  when  Keats  wrote  the  exquisite  lines  : 

"St.  Agnes'  eve  !  ah,  bitter  chill  it  was  ; 
The  owl  with  all  his  feathers  was  a'  cold." 

Although  Sussex  is  in  the  south,  and  its  chalk  hills  rise 
up  like  the  cliffs  of  Dover,  as  if  to  protect  the  land 
from  the  sea,  yet  the  winds  sweep  over  the  South 
Downs,  and  howl  round  castle  and  cottage.  Mr.  Field, 
accustomed  to  the  blazing  fires  of  America,  had  to  wrap 
himself  up  very  warmly,  and  still  felt  that  the  climate 
of  England  in  winter  was  not  quite  suited  to  one  of  his 
age  ;  and  after  the  Christmas  holidays  were  over,  and 
the  grandfather's  heart  was  filled  with  joy  and  pride, 
he  bade  adieu  to  the  household  so  dear  to  him,  and 
accompanied  only  by  his  faithful  valet,  Watson,  who 
had  been  with  him  for  years,  he  crossed  the  Channel 
to  Paris,  where  he  found  his  "nice  and  warm  apart 
ment  waiting  for  him  "  at  his  old  quarters  in  the  Hotel 
Bristol.  Though  it  was  mid- winter  Paris  was  as  gay 


338  A   WEEK   AT   NICE. 

as  ever.  But  he  was  so  eager  to  get  into  a  warmer 
climate  that  he  left  the  same  night  for  Cannes,  though 
he  missed  the  luxury  of  travel  to  which  he  had  been 
accustomed  in  America.  "The  train  de  luxe,"  he 
said,  "is  a  misnomer  :  there  is  no  luxury  in  it ! "  But 
any  feeling  of  discomfort  vanished  as  he  reached  Mar 
seilles,  and  looked  out  on  the  glittering  Mediterranean. 

Nice  was  bathed  in  sunshine.  His  hotel  was  on  the 
quay,  and  even  in  mid- winter,  January  15th,  he  re 
ports  :  "The  sun  is  shining  all  glorious  this  morning." 
His  letters  seem  to  breathe  the  warmth  of  the  atmos 
phere.  He  writes  to  his  daughter  : 

"Of  course  I  greatly  miss  your  companionship,  and 
that  of  my  dear  boys,  but  I  am  better  off  in  this 
climate.  The  sun  has  shone  brightly  the  five  days 
that  I  have  been  on  the  Riviera,  and  I  am  perfectly 
comfortable.  My  faithful  Watson  guards  me.  I  took 
a  walk  with  him  before  lunch  along  the  boulevard, 
which  skirts  the  bay  for  a  mile  or  so.  The  scene  was 
a  gay  one,  such  as  only  France  can  exhibit :  all  sorts 
of  people  and  all  sorts  of  vehicles,  and  I  might  add  all 
sorts  of  amusements.  The  French  are  an  amiable  and 
volatile  people,  with  a  streak  of  the  tiger  in  them  ! " 

And  now  the  sea  itself  took  on  a  new  interest,  when 
a  letter  from  England  informed  him  that  his  oldest 
grandson,  who  was  a  midshipman  in  the  navy,  and 
had  been  waiting  orders,  had  been  ordered  to  the  East 
India  squadron.  He  answered  at  once  : 


HIS   GRANDSON   ORDERED   TO   INDIA.  339 

"This  is  good  news  if  the  station  is  healthy.  I  sup 
pose  that  on  board  the  ship  one  is  protected  from 
disease  more  than  on  land.  God  prosper  the  dear 
fellow  !  How  fortunate  it  is  that  I  came  over  as  I 
did,  and  could  see  all  my  brave  boys  and  you  together. 
Give  Dudley  my  warmest  love  and  wish  him  every 
good  fortune.  Keep  up  your  heart,  my  darling ! " 

Writing  again,  he  asked  about  the  ship  and  her 
commander,  and  was  gratified  to  get  the  best  reports, 
not  only  of  the  superior  officers,  but  of  his  fellow 
midshipmen.  A  few  days  later  he  writes  :  "Before 
this  my  dear  Dudley  is  off  on  his  way  to  his  duty  in 
the  service  to  which  he  has  devoted  himself  for  life. 
What  a  dear  brave  fellow  he  is  !  He  will  yet  do  us 
all  credit,  I  firmly  believe." 

Happy  dreams  of  a  proud  grandfather,  which 
warmed  his  heart  every  time  he  thought  of  "his 
boy "  on  his  way  to  India  to  the  brilliant  career  which 
had  been  pictured  for  him.  Happy  in  his  anticipa 
tions,  he  was  happy  also  that  he  did  not  live  to 
suffer  the  bitterness  of  disappointment.  But  only  a 
few  months  after  his  own  death  in  America,  came  the 
tidings  that  the  grandson  who  bore  his  name  and  had 
given  such  promise  for  the  future,  had  died  on  the 
other  side  of  the  globe,  in  the  harbor  of  Bombay. 

From  Nice  Mr.  Field  took  his  journey  by  easy 
stages  :  resting  a  couple  of  days  at  Monte  Carlo  ;  and 


340  SIX   WEEKS   IN   ITALY. 

again  at  Mentone,  where  a  daughter  of  his  brother 
Cyrus,  Mrs.  Andrews,  had  lived  for  many  years. 

When  he  reached  Genoa,  he  laid  out  his  plan  for 
the  rest  of  the  winter.  He  had  six  weeks  to  spend  in 
Italy,  and  dividing  the  time  so  as  to  get  the  most  out 
of  it,  he  thought  it  wiser,  instead  of  going  direct  to 
Florence  and  Home  and  Naples,  to  reverse  the  order 
and  sail  from  Genoa  to  Naples,  so  as  to  be  at  once  in 
the  warmest  climate,  where  he  might  spend  a  couple 
of  weeks,  and  then  come  north  slowly,  so  as  to  be  in 
Rome  for  the  Holy  Week,  and  wind  up  with  Florence, 
from  which  it  would  be  an  easy  day's  journey  back  to 
Genoa,  from  which  he  was  to  sail  for  America. 

This  was  an  excellent  division  of  time,  which  he 
carried  out  with  a  military  precision,  and  with  a  success 
beyond  his  anticipations.  He  wrote  from  Naples,  "  The 
weather  is  so  mild  that  I  do  not  need  a  fire.  I  have  110 
sensation  of  cold  ;  and  being  careful  to  keep  out  of  the 
night  air,  I  feel  as  safe  as  if  I  were  in  Stockbridge  or 
Gramercy  Park."  And  then,  looking  out  upon  the 
Mediterranean,  he  adds  :  ' c  Dudley  is  by  this  time  far 
on  his  way  to  Port  Said.  I  can  imagine  the  dear  fellow 
sailing  past  Naples  in  this  '  great  and  wide  sea. '  God 
bless  him  and  you  all ! "  One  day  he  spent  in  an  ex 
cursion  to  Pompeii,  and  found  the  excavations  greatly 
extended  since  his  visit  fifty-seven  years  before  !  Look 
ing  back  through  all  those  years  it  was  like  recalling  a 
past  existence  to  sit  in  the  Grand  Hotel  du  Vesuve, 


IN   ROME.  341 

and  look  out  upon  the  bay  that  never  loses  its  beauty, 
and  see  the  smoke  of  Vesuvius  ascending  as  he  had 
seen  it  in  the  long  ago  of  more  than  half  a  century. 

Yet  with  all  the  attractions  of  Naples  those  of 
Home  were  greater.  The  very  next  morning  after  his 
arrival  he  was  in  St.  Peter's,  and  "To-morrow,"  he 
writes,  ' '  I  intend  to  visit  the  Coliseum,  and  other 
monuments  of  old  Rome.  But  I  restrain  myself  to 
two  or  three  hours  a  day."  He  had  reason  to  be  on  his 
guard,  for  nothing  is  more  wearying  than  sight-seeing. 
In  his  younger  days  he  had  explored  them  all,  going 
day  after  day  to  the  Forum  and  the  Capitol ;  seeking 
out  the  spot  where  "great  Caesar  fell;"  and  riding 
along  the  Appian  Way,  where  he  could  almost  hear  the 
tramp  of  the  Roman  legions,  returning  from  the  wars, 

"  Bringing  many  captives  home  to  Rome, 
Whose  ransom  did  the  public  coffers  fill.* 

If  he  had  not  now  the  strength  for  such  fatiguing 
excursions,  it  was  something  still  "to  breathe  that 
haunted  air." 

But  modern  Rome,  if  it  be  not  quite  so  imposing  to 
the  imagination  as  ancient  Rome,  is  still  the  Capital, 
and  combines  more  to  attract  the  stranger  than  any 
other  Italian  city.  He  found  the  climate  but  little 
changed  from  that  of  Naples.  There  it  had  been 
almost  too  warm  for  an  overcoat ;  while  in  Rome  the 
air  was  a  little  crisp,  but  all  the  more  bracing.  He 


342  THE   AMERICAN  COLONY. 

writes  to  his  daughter  :  "If  you  could  see  me  basking 
in  the  full  light  of  an  Italian  sun,  you  would  think  me 
well  off.  All  is  cheerful  about  me.  Our  hotel  (the 
Quirinal)  is  excellent,  the  city  is  clean,  the  streets  are 
full  of  people,  all  seeming  interested  in  something  ;  life 
is  in  its  best  estate  as  far  as  outward  appearances  go." 

With  so  many  attractions,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
Rome  should  bring  together,  more  than  any  other  city 
in  Europe  except  Paris,  a  very  miscellaneous  society, 
as  it  is  from  many  countries  ;  and  a  very  charming 
one,  as  it  includes  artists  and  authors  and  scholars 
studying  ancient  history  ;  and  notable  public  men  : 
French  deputies  or  English  Members  of  Parliament ; 
who,  to  prolong  the  Christmas  holidays,  find  no  winter 
resort  so  full  of  interest  as  the  * '  Eternal  City. " 

Rome  has  also  a  large  American  colony.  The  hotel 
was  full  of  Americans,  who  appeared  at  a  reception 
given  by  Mrs.  John  Hay  in  numbers  equal  to  the 
weekly  reception  of  the  American  Minister.  In  this 
goodly  company  no  one  was  more  welcome  than  Mr. 
Field  himself.  Wherever  he  went  he  was  surrounded 
by  friends  and  admirers,  who  were  all  delighted  with 
the  youthfulness  of  one  who  seemed  to  belong  to  an 
other  generation.  Those  who  had  known  him  in  former 
years  said  they  had  never  seen  him  more  full  of  life  ; 
at  once  enjoying  more  and  contributing  more  to  the 
enjoyment  of  others. 

Those  whom  he  had  known  in  his  earlier  visits  were 


A   BIRTHDAY   WITH    OLD    FRIENDS.  343 

few,  but  it  was  good  to  look  into  their  faces  again. 
The  oldest  of  these  was  the  American  artist  Terry, 
who  had  lived  in  Rome  half  a  century,  and  his  charm 
ing  wife,  whose  first  husband  was  the  famous  sculptor 
Crawford,  and  who  was  the  mother  of  the  popular 
author,  Marion  Crawford.  As  Mr.  Field's  birthday 
(February  13th)  was  at  hand,  they  would  have  him  to 
dine  with  them.  He  felt  it  to  be  hardly  prudent  to  be 
out  in  the  evening,  but  could  not  deny  himself  the 
pleasure  of  sitting  down  at  luncheon  with  such  dear 
old  friends.  The  same  day  he  wrote  to  his  daughter  in 
a  tone  of  grateful  satisfaction  with  the  past  and  calm 
contemplation  of  the  future  :  "I  am  stronger  than  I 
was  a  year  ago,  when  I  passed  my  birthday  with  the 
Judge  in  Washington.  The  voyage  and  the  sea  and 
the  journey  since  have  done  me  good,  and  above  all 
the  visit  to  you  and  the  sight  of  my  boys  has  created  a 
soul  under  the  ribs  of  death."  But  in  his  last  words 
there  is  a  tone  of  sadness  that  is  almost  prophetic  : 
4 '  What  may  be  in  store  for  us  in  the  year  now  entered 
upon  God  only  knows.  I  only  know  that  we  must 
keep  brave  hearts,  prepared  for  any  event,  and  seeking 
to  do  our  duty  whatever  may  befall." 

Next  to  Rome  in  its  attraction  to  those  who  come 
over  the  sea,  is  Florence,  where  every  winter  brings 
together  a  large  foreign  population,  in  which  are  hun 
dreds  of  English  and  American  visitors  :  and  here,  as 
at  Rome,  Mr.  Field's  countrymen  gave  him  a  hearty 


344  IN   FLORENCE. 

welcome.  Among  the  resident  Americans  no  one  is 
better  known  than  Professor  Fiske,  of  Cornell  Univer 
sity,  who  has  lived  here  for  years,  which  he  has  devoted 
to  collecting  rare  books.  His  early  editions  of  Petrarch 
are  of  such  value  that  he  keeps  them  locked  up  in 
cases  as  he  would  precious  jewels.  Another  treasure 
is  a  collection  of  Icelandic  literature !  Most  of  us 
hardly  know  that  Iceland  ever  had  a  literature.  It 
would  seem  as  if  the  intense  cold  would  freeze  the 
very  blood  and  brains  of  the  inhabitants.  But  the  long 
evenings  have  been  favorable  to  reading  and  to  writing 
also.  Here  is  a  Bible  centuries  older  than  Luther's, 
and  a  collection  of  other  volumes  which  show  that 
there  was  a  dawn  of  letters  in  this  far  away  island, 

,    almost  in  the  Arctic  circle,  long  before  the  Renaissance 

;    came  in  Central  and  Southern  Europe. 

Among  the  well-known  virtues  of  our  American 
professor  is  that  of  hospitality  to  his  countrymen, 
which  he  shows  in  the  most  delightful  way.  He  would 
come  in  his  carriage  to  take  Mr.  Field  to  a  drive  to  the 
Tower  of  Galileo,  or  to  some  other  of  the  beautiful 
points  of  view  around  Florence  ;  and  next  bring  the 
codifier  of  America  face  to  face  at  his  table  with  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  of  jurists  and  statesmen  of 
Italy  ;  and  again  give  him  a  reception  at  which  he 
could  meet  the  best  representatives  of  Italian  society 
as  well  as  the  English  and  American  residents.  These 


A   STORMY   VOYAGE.  345 

courtesies  made  his  visit  so  pleasant  that  he  could  say 
truly,  ' '  My  days  are  passing  serenely  in  Florence. " 

But  such  days  always  come  to  an  end,  and  he  took 
his  way  to  Genoa,  from  which  on  the  28th  of  March 
he  writes  to  his  daughter : 

"It  is  now  eleven  o'clock  and  we  go  on  board  at 
four.  So  these  are  my  last  words  before  reaching  my 
own  beloved  land.  We  leave  Genoa  at  ten  to-morrow, 
and  go  first  to  Naples,  touch  at  Gibraltar,  and  through 
the  Azores  direct  to  New  York,  where  our  arrival  is 
promised  for  the  9th  of  April. 
"Ever  lovingly 

' '  Your  father, 

"DAVID  DUDLEY  FIELD." 

With  this  last  message  of  affection  to  the  one  he 
loved  most  on  earth,  he  embarked  the  next  morning 
from  the  birthplace  of  Columbus,  for  the  new  world 
that  Columbus  discovered,  and  on  a  ship  that  bore  the 
name  of  Columbia ! 

Looking,  as  we  were  somewhat  anxiously,  for  his 
safe  return,  we  counted  the  days  from  the  time  that 
the  good  ship  passed  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  Al 
though  it  was  April,  the  voyage  was  so  tempestuous 
that  most  of  the  passengers  kept  snugly  in  their  berths. 
But  no  storm  could  drive  him  below.  He  was  so  supe 
rior  to  the  weakness  of  others  that  he  hardly  showed 
the  proper  degree  of  sympathy.  I  always  told  him 
that  such  indifference  was  from  the  absence  of  the 


346  SAFE   AT   HOME. 

sensibilities  which  belong  to  our  poor  human  nature, 
which  only  provoked  his  amusement,  for  nothing  in 
nature  thrilled  him  in  every  nerve  like  a  storm  at  sea.  * 
The  rough  weather  did  not  abate  till  they  were  in  sight 
of  our  coast,  and  indeed  the  Columbia  entered  our 
harbor  in  what  Americans  would  call  a  blizzard  !  As 
soon  as  she  was  reported  to  be  coming  up  the  bay,  I  set 
off  for  the  pier  of  the  Hamburg  American  Line,  in 
Hoboken.  The  ship  was  at  the  dock,  and  Mr.  Field 
had  just  driven  away.  Following  to  Gramercy  Park, 
I  found  him  not  at  all  the  worse  for  his  voyage.  As 
soon  as  he  heard  my  voice  he  called  to  me,  and  as  I 
entered  the  room,  he  was  standing  with  his  back  to  a 
blazing  fire,  and  threw  his  arms  around  me,  saying,  ' '  I 
was  never  better  in  my  life  ! "  That  brotherly  embrace 
I  shall  never  forget  : 

"Ah,  little  thought  we  'twas  our  last  i" 

Even  now,  as  I  think  of  him  those  arms  are  round 
me  still. 

Going  up  to  his  library,  we  spent  an  hour  in  ex- 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Van  Dyke,  of  New  York,  who  was  his  f  ellow 
passenger,  wrote  afterwards  that  "on  the  voyage  he  was  so 
happy,  so  energetic,  and  such  an  inspiring  companion,  that  in 
spite  of  his  great  age  he  seemed  young.  Those  days  on  the  sea 
were  pleasant  to  him  ;  and  he  increased  the  pleasure  of  others. 
I  shall  always  be  glad  to  think  that  I  was  his  fellow-traveller 
and  privileged  to  listen  to  his  wise  and  cheerful  conversation. " 


HE   NEVER   GREW   OLD.  347 

changing  the  experiences  of  the  winter.  He  had  much 
to  tell  of  England,  France  and  Italy,  while  I  could 
only  supply  the  domestic  incidents  of  which  he  wished 
to  hear.  But  no  matter  what  was  the  subject,  he 
entered  into  it  and  gave  his  opinion  with  all  his  old- 
time  freedom.  Recalling  it  since,  I  have  asked  myself 
if  there  was  any  trace  of  feebleness  or  mental  decrepi 
tude,  and  I  cannot  recall  the  slightest.  Although  he 
was  in  his  ninetieth  year,  there  was  no  confusion  of 
thought  or  language.  He  was  within  a  few  hours  of 
the  end  of  life,  and  yet  his  mind  was  as  clear,  and  his 
conversation  as  fresh  and  vigorous,  as  if  he  were  but 
seventy  or  fifty.  Whatever  weakness  might  touch  his 
stalwart  frame,  his  intellect  never  grew  old  ! 

I  came  again  in  the  afternoon,  but  a  reporter  was 
with  him,  and  our  conversation  was  deferred  till  the 
next  day.  We  never  looked  into  each  other's  eyes 
again.  That  very  night,  about  three  o'clock,  he  awoke 
with  a  chill  and  rang  for  his  valet,  who  was  so  well 
trained  and  experienced  that  he  was  competent  to  act 
as  nurse  and  almost  as  doctor,  who  did  everything  to 
relieve  him.  But  as  soon  as  his  physician  could  be 
called,  he  found  that  the  chill  was  the  forerunner  of 
pneumonia.  Watson  said  that  there  had  been  some 
delay  at  the  pier  after  the  ship  reached  it,  and  that  Mr. 
Field  went  suddenly  from  the  warm  cabin  into  the  cold 
air  on  the  dock.  His  old  heart  trouble,  from  which  the 
doctor  said  he  had  probably  not  been  entirely  free  any 


348  SUDDEN   DEATH. 

time  during  the  last  twenty  or  twenty-five  years,  reap 
peared,  and  he  sank  from  hour  to  hour.  I  saw  him 
that  afternoon,  and  calling  his  name,  there  was  a  faint 
sign  of  recognition,  but  he  did  not  speak.  After  a  con 
sultation,  the  physicians  thought  he  still  might  rally, 
and  that  I  could  safely  go  home.  But  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning  the  nurse  called  the  doctor,  who  saw  at 
a  glance  that,  as  one  expressed  it,  "the  great  lawyer 
was  going  before  the  greatest  Judge,"  and  in  half  an 
hour,  without  a  tremor,  a  motion  or  a  sigh,  the  heart 
stood  still. 

Coming  so  suddenly,  the  shock  to  us  was  terrible. 
But  when  we  recovered  our  self-possession,  we  could 
not  but  reflect  on  what  might  have  been  :  that  he 
might  have  died  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  in  a 
foreign  country,  surrounded  by  strangers  ;  or  011  the 
voyage,  in  which  case  we  should  have  had  sorrow 
upon  sorrow.  But  he  had  reached  his  country,  and 
died  under  his  own  roof,  among  his  kindred.  Nor 
could  the  summons  have  come  more  gently.  The  foot 
steps  of  death  had  been  as  soft  as  the  footsteps  of 
angels.  As  long  as  he  was  conscious  of  anything,  it 
was  of  home,  and  of  the  love  and  the  tenderness  here 
and  beyond  the  sea. 

And,  after  all,  the  work  to  which  he  had  devoted 
his  life  was  done.  He  had  but  one  remaining  ambition 
(to  be  sure  it  was  a  pretty  large  one),  that  his  codes 
should  be  adopted  all  over  the  world !  He  said  : 


HIS   LIFE   WORK    WAS   DONE.  349 

"  They  are  written  and  published.  It  is  only  a  ques 
tion  of  time  when  they  will  be  accepted."  He  was 
going  up  into  the  Berkshire  Hills  (for  which  he  waited 
only  till  the  apple  blossoms  should  appear),  where  he 
would  spend  the  summer,  not  only  in  the  scenes  most 
dear  to  him,  but  in  an  occupation  to  which  he  had 
looked  forward  with  eager  interest.  It  was  to  put  on 
record  the  story  of  his  long  and  somewhat  stormy  life, 
that  would  be  a  history  of  the  great  battle  for  Law 
Reform,  in  which  he  had  been  foremost  for  more  than 
half  a  century.  Thus  he  was  twice  happy  in  the  past 
and  the  future  ;  in  his  memories  and  his  anticipations  ; 
when  he  closed  his  eyes  for  the  last  time  and  sank  to 
his  rest. 

As  only  the  day  before  the  city  papers  had  announced 
his  arrival  from  Europe  in  robust  health,  few  knew 
even  of  his  illness,  so  that  the  announcement  of  his 
death  was  a  surprise.  One  of  the  first  to  whom  word 
was  sent  was  Mr.  Choate,  who  had  been  for  years  his 
neighbor  in  Stockbridge.  He  came  immediately,  and, 
as  he  looked  upon  the  marble  brow  of  one  who  was  but 
a  few  hours  before  so  full  of  life,  he  said  that  he  had 
never  seen  anything  so  majestic  in  death  ;  that 

"He  lay  like  a  warrior  taking  his  rest, 
With  his  martial  cloak  around  him." 

As  soon  as  the  bulletins  announced  the  sad  event, 
there  was  a  general  feeling  among  the  people  to  whom 


350  DUST   TO   DUST. 

his  form  and  figure  had  been  familiar  for  half  a  cen 
tury,  that  a  great  personality  had  disappeared,  whose 
like  they  should  not  see  again.  Every  public  tribute  was 
paid  to  his  memory.  The  flag  upon  the  City  Hall  was 
hung  at  half-mast.  The  courts  adjourned,  with  appro 
priate  words  from  the  bench.  The  Legislature  was 
then  in  session  and,  to  quote  the  report  from  Albany, 
"the  news  of  the  death  of  this  great  man  wakened  a 
feeling  of  profound  regret."  The  speaker,  who  an 
nounced  it  in  the  Senate,  said :  ' '  He  died  crowned  with 
honor.  His  life  was  a  lesson  and  an  inspiration. "  Both 
houses  adjourned  in  respect  to  his  memory,  and  ap 
pointed  committees  to  attend  his  funeral. 

The  last  service  was  on  Sunday  afternoon  in  Cal 
vary  church,  where  he  had  attended  for  forty  years, 
which  was  crowded  by  representatives  of  the  old  fami 
lies  of  New  York,  and  a  large  deputation  from  Wil 
liams  College,  with  the  President  at  their  head.  The 
pall-bearers  were  :  Chief  Justice  Fuller,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  ;  Charles  Butler,  who  was 
over  ninety  years  of  age  ;  William  M.  Evarts,  Joseph 
H.  Choate,  John  Bigelow  and  Abram  S.  Hewitt ; 
Judges  Charles  Andrews  and  A.  R.  Lawrence  and  ex- 
Judge  Charles  A.  Peabody  ;  Chancellor  MacCracken, 
Robert  E.  Deyo,  H.  H.  Anderson  and  Robert  M. 
Gallaway. 

The  services  were,  as  he  would  have  wished,  very 
simple,  with  no  eulogy.  It  was  enough  to  hear  in  the 


TRIBUTES   TO    HIS   MEMORY.  351 

arches  above  the  echo  of  the  voice  that  has  sounded 
through  all  the  centuries,  * '  I  am  the  Resurrection  and 
the  Life,  saith  the  Lord  :  he  that  believeth  in  Me, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live  ! " 

The  next  morning  we  bore  him  away  to  the  Hills,  to 
which  his  eyes  had  been  turned,  and  laid  him  down 
under  a  weeping  willow,  whose  long  tresses  drooped 
over  his  place  of  rest,  beside  the  graves  of  those  he 
loved. 

When  we  came  back  from  that  visit  to  the  house 
prepared  for  all  the  living,  a  great  element  had  gone 
out  of  our  lives,  and  the  world  seemed  emptier  than 
before.  But  if  public  applause  could  make  up  for 'the 
loneliness  of  grief,  we  had  it  in  an  abundance  that  was 
quite  overwhelming.  The  tributes  from  the  press  were 
such  as  I  have  never  seen  at  the  death  of  any  one 
except  our  martyred  Presidents,  or  the  heroes  of  the 
war.  This  took  me  by  surprise,  for  with  all  my  love 
for  him,  I  could  not  but  remember  that  he  had  been  a 
man  of  war  from  his  youth,  and  I  looked  for  some 
sharp  criticisms,  but  every  voice  was  hushed,  and  all 
recognized  the  immense  service  which  he  had  rendered 
to  his  country.  One  editor  indeed,  who  is  second  to 
none  of  his  brethren  in  America,  placed  him  high 
among  the  lawgivers  of  history,  and  as  such  among 
the  benefactors  of  mankind. 

When  a  man  who  has  been  so  long  in  the  public  eye 
passes  away,  the  first  question  that  will  arise  in  some 


352  HIS   UNKNOWN   GENEROSITY. 

minds  is  as  to  the  benefactions  that  he  left  behind  him. 
These  were  things  which  Mr.  Field  never  spoke  of. 
His  codes  were  his  best  legacies.  But,  as  to  the  minor 
point,  although  it  is  something  which  does  not  concern 
the  public,  I  may  dismiss  it  in  a  few  words  which  will 
be  quite  sufficient.  As  some  thought  of  Mr.  Field  as 
of  a  cold  temperament,  absorbed  in  his  own  affairs,  now 
that  he  is  gone,  we  may  lift  the  veil  of  privacy,  and 
show  him  as  he  was. 

Certainly  he  was  not  of  the  number  of  those  who 
throw  away  money  right  and  left,  where  it  might  do 
as  much  harm  as  good.  His  gifts  were  prompted  by 
personal  attachments.  He  had  the  feeling  of  a  child 
towards  the  place  where  he  was  born.  Our  parents,  to 
whom  we  owed  everything,  were  married  in  1803,  so 
that  1878  measured  off  three-quarters  of  a  century, 
and  on  the  very  wedding  day,  the  last  day  of  October, 
the  four  brothers  who  were  living,  went  up  to  the  old 
home  in  Haddam,  Conn.,  to  dedicate  two  small  parks 
which  they  gave  for  the  recreation  of  the  inhabitants, 
one  on  the  site  of  the  old  meeting-house,  where  our 
father  preached  for  years,  and  the  other  on  ' '  Isinglass 
Hill,"  a  bold,  rocky  eminence  rising  behind  the  village, 
where  the  older  brothers  used  to  play.  There  was  a 
large  gathering  of  the  people,  who  seemed  much  pleased 
with  this  remembrance  of  the  old  town.  Some  years 
after,  when  our  eldest  brother  died,  it  was  found  that 
in  his  will  he  had  given  $5,000  to  Haddam,  that  the 


DOING   GOOD   IN   SECRET,  353 

parks  might  be  laid  out  with  taste  by  the  planting  of 
trees,  with  open  lawns  between,  that  they  should  be  an 
inheritance  to  the  people  forever.  The  same  home 
feeling  had  led  him  to  give  $10,000  for  the  tower  in 
Stockbridge,  to  which  he  added  in  his  will  $5,000  for 
the  ringing  of  the  chimes  at  sunset.  Of  public  objects 
the  first  in  his  eye  was  Williams  College,  to  which  he 
gave  first  and  last  $40,000. 

But  there  was  one  act  of  beneficence,  done  in  secret, 
that  was  still  more  characteristic.  When  Chief  Justice 
Taney  died  he  left  two  daughters  who  were  literally 
penniless,  and  had  to  support  themselves  by  writing  in 
the  departments.  When  this  came  to  be  known,  there 
was  a  general  feeling  that  it  was  not  quite  to  the  honor 
of  the  profession  that  the  daughters  of  the  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
should  be  left  to  want.  At  a  meeting  in  Washington 
the  case  was  stated  delicately,  and  it  was  assumed  that 
the  bar  would  deem  it  not  only  its  duty  but  its  pleasure 
to  look  after  the  family.  But  the  sympathy  did  not  go 
beyond  the  stage  of  oratory.  Chagrined  at  this  failure 
to  pay  what  he  regarded  as  a  debt  of  honor,  Mr.  Field 
gave  to  the  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  his  bond  to 
remit  to  one  of  the  daughters  $500  a  year  during  her 
life,  which  he  paid  from  1873  till  her  death  in  1891, 
thus  contributing  $9,000  to  save  the  credit  of  the  bar. 
This  he  did  when  he  had  never  seen  the  daughters,  nor 
the  Chief  Justice  himself,  except  on  the  bench,  and 


354      GOOD   LAWS   BETTER   THAN    GIFTS   OF 

though  his  decision  in  the  Dred  Scott  case  was  very 
repulsive  to  him.  The  incident  is  enough  to  show  that, 
if  he  was  careful  as  to  whom  he  gave,  when  his  heart 
was  touched  he  was  a  very  generous  man. 

But  the  gift  of  money  is  the  least  of  all  gifts,  for  if 
given  unwisely,  it  will  only  make  the  poor  poorer,  and 
more  dependent  than  before.  It  is  not  charity  that 
men  want,  but  justice.  If  it  be  a  good  deed  to  step 
forward  to  defend  a  poor  man  in  the  courts,  it  is  better 
still  to  give  him  a  law  by  which  he  can  protect  himself. 
Teach  him  his  rights,  and  he  can  stand  on  his  feet, 
calling  no  man  master.  When  he  is  on  the  same  level 
as  the  rich  man  he  is  lifted  up  with  a  feeling  of  self- 
respect.  He  is  as  good  as  anybody.  There  is  one  law 
for  all  men.  No  man  is  so  high  as  to  be  above  its 
power  :  and  none  so  low  as  not  to  be  under  its  pro 
tection. 

But  how  far  have  the  reforms  of  the  law  introduced 
by  Mr.  Field  extended  ?  Are  they  not  limited  to  a  few 
States,  so  that  in  point  of  fact  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  American  people  share  in  these  benefits,  real  or 
imagined?  This  is  not  a  question  for  argument,  but 
for  statistics,  for  which  I  do  not  trust  to  any  knowledge 
of  my  own,  but  to  the  authority  of  one  who  is  as  well 
informed  as  any  man  in  the  country.  To  my  inquiry 
how  far  the  new  codes  have  been  adopted  in  the  United 
States  he  replies  as  follows  : 


THE    CODES   IN   STATES    AND    TERRITORIES.        355 

"NEW  YORK,  January  12,  1898. 
"DEAR  DR.  FIELD  : 

"Your  brother's  codes,  with  such  modifications  as 
were  deemed  necessary  to  accommodate  them  to  each 
locality,  were  adopted  in  whole  or  in  part  in  Twenty- 
seven  States  and  Territories. 

"But,  in  addition  to  this,  the  principles  of  your 
brother's  Code  of  Civil  Procedure,  and  especially  its 
fundamental  doctrine  of  fusion  of  law  and  equity, 
have  made  their  way  in  so  many  other  States,  that  I 
do  not  know  of  any,  outside  of  New  England,  Dela 
ware,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Maryland,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania  and  Tennessee,  which  have  not  been 
seriously  affected  by  the  influence  of  his  codes.  As 
to  these,  Louisiana  is  still  governed  practically  by  the 
French  law  ;  Pennsylvania  had  united  law  and  equity 
long  before  the  codes  were  framed  ;  and  there  was 
really  not  so  much  occasion  for  reforms  in  that  direc 
tion  in  New  England  as  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
Even  in  the  excepted  States,  the  old  common  law 
practice  hardly  exists,  outside  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware 
and  Pennsylvania.  In  fact,  the  principal  difference 
between  States  which  have  adopted  the  codes  and  those 
which  have  not  is  that  in  the  latter  the  process  of 
reform  has  been  carried  out  by  cutting  away  useless 
forms  instead  of  by  positive  constructive  work. 

"THOMAS  G.  SHEARMAN." 

This  was  an  extraordinary  statement,  but  it  only 


356  MAKING   LAW   FOR   FORTY   MILLIONS. 

whetted  my  appetite  for  something  still  more  exact. 
States  and  territories  are  indefinite  quantities,  ranging 
from  forty  thousand  inhabitants  in  Nevada  to  six  mil 
lions  in  the  State  of  New  York.  The  total  result  would 
be  more  satisfactory  if  the  separate  statements  could  be 
transmuted  into  the  aggregate  population,  for  which  I 
applied  to  the  same  high  authority,  and  received  the 
following  answer  : 

''NEW  YORK,  January  18,  1898. 
MY  DEAR  DR.  FIELD  : 

*  *  In  reply  to  your  inquiry  I  have  made  a  hasty 
calculation,  from  which  I  judge  that,  assuming  our 
population  in  1890  to  have  been  63,000,000,  38,000,000 
of  those  resided  in  States  where  your  brother's  codes  of 
practice  have  been  in  substance  adopted.  But  the  fun 
damental  principle  of  those  codes — that  is,  the  fusion  of 
law  and  equity,  and  the  administration  of  justice  in  a 
single  court,  instead  of  being  divided  between  a  court 
of  law  and  a  court  of  chancery — have  been  adopted  in 
States  containing  much  more  than  nine-tenths  of  all 
the  population.  Of  course,  some  of  these,  such  as 
Pennsylvania,  had  adopted  this  principle  long  before 
the  date  of  your  brother's  codes  ;  but  for  the  most 
part,  this  change  is  a  result  of  the  codes. 

" THOMAS  G.  SHEARMAN." 

This  is  simply  astounding.  It  is  a  revolution.  The 
computation  of  thirty-eight  millions  is  made  on  the 
basis  of  the  census  of  1890.  But  Mr.  Field  lived  till 


HOW   LONG   WILL   THEY    STAND  ?  357 

1894,  and  the  natural  increase  of  these  four  years 
would  be  at  least  two  millions,  making  a  total  of  forty 
millions  ! 

But  can  such  sweeping  changes  be  permanent? 
Those  who  were  opposed  to  the  codes  from  the  begin 
ning,  have  explained  their  success  as  a  craze  for  reform, 
which  had  swept  over  the  country  as  a  tidal  wave,  but 
which  would  be  followed  by  a  reaction,  and  pass  away 
as  swiftly  as  it  came.  This  is  indeed  possible,  but  is  it 
probable  ?  We  can  only  judge  of  the  future  by  the 
past.  So  far  we  have  yet  to  learn  of  a  single  State  or 
Territory  that,  having  adopted  these  codes,  has  gone 
back  to  the  "beggarly  elements"  of  the  old,  tedious 
and  roundabout  way  of  obtaining  justice.  "  Revolu 
tions  do  not  go  backward,"  at  least  peaceful  revolutions 
that  are  in  the  line  of  human  progress.  If  the  new 
laws  are  better  than  the  old  why  should  they  not  stand 
till  they  are  superseded  by  codes  that  are  better  still? 
But  this  is  a  free  country,  and  we  are  not  responsible 
for  what  may  be  done  by  a  future  generation.  We 
read  in  the  Bible  that  once  the  sun  went  backward,  but 
we  hardly  expect  to  see  the  miracle  repeated  in  our  day. 

Accustomed  as  we  are  to  see  our  legislatures  meet 
ing  from  year  to  year,  and  enacting  new  provisions  of 
law,  we  are  apt  to  think  of  laws  as  transitory  things, 
which  change  with  the  ever-shifting  popular  will.  But 
they  are  the  oldest  creations  of  man — as  old  as  civiliza 
tion,  or  as  history  itself.  To  trace  the  genealogy  of 


358  LAWS   AS   OLD   AS   HISTORY. 

our  laws,  we  should  not  stop  at  King  Alfred,  nor  the 
Code  of  Justinian,  but  go  back  to  the  laws  of  Moses, 
which,  though  given  three  thousand  years  ago,  have 
been  flowing  on  through  all  these  centuries,  like  the 
waters  of  the  Nile.  When  our  Pilgrim  fathers  crossed 
the  sea  they  formed  in  the  cabin  of  the  Mayflower  a 
constitution  for  their  little  State,  which  they  tried  to 
frame  after  the  pattern  given  in  the  Mount.  Traces 
of  that  code  still  remain.  The  setting  apart  of  one 
day  in  seven  as  a  day  of  rest,  dates  from  Mount  Sinai, 
while  the  sacredness  of  marriage  received  its  sacrament 
of  baptism  in  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

As  laws  are  the  oldest  of  human  institutions  so  are 
they  the  most  enduring.  A  good  law  does  not  weaken 
by  time,  but  grows  stronger  and  stronger.  Men  do  not 
get  tired  of  justice,  but  cling  to  it,  and  hand  it  down 
as  a  sacred  heritage  to  their  children.  The  legislator 
who  has  framed  but  one  such  law  has  planted  in  the 
earth  an  acorn  that  may  grow  to  be  an  oak,  with  trunk 
so  strong,  and  arms  so  wide,  that  many  generations 
shall  sit  under  its  shade.  It  may  even  grow  to  the 
stature  of  the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  whose  mighty  trunks 
have  stood  the  storms  of  three  thousand  years  !  The 
sturdy  growths  of  law  become  knarled  and  knotted  by 
time,  till  they  become  a  part  of  the  very  constitution  of 
human  society,  to  endure  as  long  as  society  itself. 

And  well  is  it  that  it  is  so,  for  law  is  the  only  thing 
that  holds  the  world  together  ;    and  holds  it  not  for 


THE   MORAL   EFFECT    OF   GOOD    LAWS.  359 

evil,  but  for  good  ;  not  to  make  men  slaves,  but  to 
make  them  free. 

A  thought  that  was  never  out  of  Mr.  Field's  mind 
was  the  moral  effect  of  laws  that  commend  themselves 
to  the  plain  and  sober  sense  of  common  people.  He 
believed  that  nothing  was  so  demoralizing  as  injustice, 
as  it  destroys  the  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  On  the 
other  hand  a  simple  maxim  of  law,  that  was  an  echo 
of  common  sense  and  common  justice,  was  an  educa 
tion  in  righteousness,  and  the  constant  pressure  of  a 
code  so  framed  was  a  powerful  influence  upon  national 
character — an  influence  that  was  not  only  perpetuated 
but  increased  from  generation  to  generation. 

' '  Let  me  make  the  songs  of  a  people,  and  I  care  not 
who  makes  its  laws,"  is  a  very  pretty  saying  that  lacks 
nothing  but  truth.  A  song  of  home  or  country  may 
indeed  send  a  thrill  to  the  heart  of  an  exile  from  the 
land  of  his  birth.  But  laws  are  not  meant  to  thrill  us 
with  transient  sensations,  but  to  rule  our  lives,  grasp 
ing  us  like  the  forces  of  nature,  surrounding  us  like  the 
atmosphere,  and  holding  us  fast  like  gravitation. 

Does  this  put  us  in  the  remorseless  gripe  of  nature  ; 
under  the  crushing  weight  of  laws  to  which  there  is  no 
relief  of  sunshine  or  of  song  ?  I  answer  that  in  the 
last  analysis  law  is  harmony.  "Law  has  her  seat  in 
the  bosom  of  God,  and  her  voice  is  the  harmony  of  the 
world."  Gentle  manners  are  the  offspring  of  an  au 
thority  that  is  firm  but  kindly.  When  there  is  one 


360      GOING   DOWN   TO   POSTERITY    WITH   HIS   CODE. 

law  for  all  men,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  then  will 
come  the  day  of  the  great  reconciliation.  But  it  is  in 
the  order  of  things  that  law  should  go  before,  and 
songs  and  rejoicings  should  follow  after. 

If  it  be  a  question  of  the  fame  that  shall  live,  as 
between  the  lawgiver  and  the  conqueror,  we  have  the 
final  judgment  of  one  who  was  both.  When  Napoleon 
was  in  exile  at  St.  Helena,  he  found  that  Europe  was 
not  perpetuating  his  name  by  celebrating  his  victories, 
and  that  they  would  give  him  but  a  poor  hold  on  the 
gratitude  of  the  world  that  he  was  leaving  behind. 
But  there  was  another  and  better  title  to  the  remem 
brance  of  future  generations  :  "I  shall  go  down  to 
posterity  with  the  Code  in  my  right  hand  ! "  Was 
there  ever  a  nobler  claim  for  immortality?  Napoleon 
is  dead,  but  the  Code  Napoleon  still  lives  and  may  live 
as  long  as  the  nation  for  which  it  was  made  exists. 
But  is  he  the  only  one  that  has  followed  this  path  to 
glory?  On  the  morning  when  the  flag  was  drooping 
at  half-mast  over  the  City  Hall,  a  judge  sitting  on  the 
bench  adjourned  his  court,  saying  that  the  words  of 
Napoleon  might  have  been  spoken  with  far  more  truth 
of  an  American  jurist  who  had  just  breathed  his  last.* 
May  not  the  tribute  of  honor  which  we  gladly  pay  to 
the  sovereign  who  served  his  country  by  his  laws  more 

*If  the  benefit  of  laws  be  measured  by  the  myriads  they  rule, 
the  population  of  the  States  and  Territories  which  adopted  the 
codes,  was  greater  than  the  whole  population  of  France. 


HIS   NAME   IN   HISTORY.  361 

than  by  his  wars,  be  claimed  also  for  one  who  devoted 
his  life  to  the  laws  of  another  country  in  another 
hemisphere  ? 

Here,  at  the  end  of  my  story,  I  recur  to  my  text  on 
the  title  page  :  "It  was  the  boast  of  Augustus  that  he 
found  Rome  of  brick  and  left  it  of  marble.  But  how 
much  nobler  shall  be  the  sovereign's  boast,  when  he 
shall  have  it  to  say  that  he  found  law  dear  and  left  it 
cheap  ;  found  it  a  sealed  book,  left  it  a  living  letter  ; 
found  it  the  patrimony  of  the  rich,  left  it  the  inherit 
ance  of  the  poor ;  found  it  the  two-edged  sword  of 
craft  and  oppression,  left  it  the  staff  of  honesty  and 
the  shield  of  innocence." 

Our  American  reformer  was  no  sovereign  and  had 
no  power  to  establish  law  by  a  decree,  but  standing 
alone — with  but  one  purpose  before  him,  that  inscribed 
upon  his  tomb  : 

"  To  bring  justice  within  the  reach  of  all  men  " — 

he  pursued  it  for  half  a  century,  against  an  opposition 
that  would  have  crushed  most  men,  till  before  he  closed 
his  eyes  in  death  he  had  given  law  to  forty  millions 
of  his  countrymen.  Surely  he  who  has  left  such  a, 
record  to  those  who  come  after  him,  will  have  a  name 
in  history,  as  one  who  did  as  much  as  any  man  of  his 
generation,  to  bring  in  the  better  time — which  prophets 
have  foretold — of  the  universal  reign  of  righteousness 
and  peace. 


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